Carol (2015): Best LGBTQ Films of 21st Century (Lesbian)

More than half a century after Patricia Highsmith’s groundbreaking 1952 novel The Price of Salt/Carol was released, Todd Haynes made his adaptation of Carol in 2015.

The film, starring Cate Blanchett as the titular Carol, a soon-to-be-divorced New Jersey socialite and mother who falls for Rooney Mara’s Therese, the shopgirl who is, as Carol notes, “flung out of space,” earned six Oscar nominations, even if it was snubbed in the Best Picture category.

It was the first Oscar-worthy love story about a female couple in which a man does not steal focus and that doesn’t end in disaster or death for the women.

In fact, the novel and the film’s ending offers possible happy for Carol and Therese.

Its artistry relies on a team that includes New Queer Cinema leader Haynes at the helm, screenwriter Phyllis Nagy (who is a lesbian and who was friends with Highsmith), costumer Sandy Powell (who also costumed The Favourite), composer Carter Burwell, and cinematographer Ed Lachmann (Far From Heaven).

The Emmy Award winner Sarah Paulson plays Carol’s best friend and former lover Abby.

Since it was released, Carol, which begins during the days before Christmas and includes Carol and Therese consummating their desire during a road trip on New Year’s Eve, has become a bit of a holiday tradition among queer women.