If ever there was a novel that was ‘made for cinema’ then Patricia Highsmith’s 1952 The Price of Salt, about the love affair between Carol, a beguiling older, married woman (Cate Blanchett) and Therese, a naïve twenty something department store assistant (Rooney Mara), is it – and Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven, Mildred Pierce) is the director born to make it. It seems astonishing that it’s taken so long for this classic, beautiful novel of lesbian love set in 50s New York to reach our screens. We have the screenwriter Phyllis Nagy to thank, as this is the much-cherished project that she has fought to get made since writing her first draft 19 years ago, after meeting Patricia Highsmith.

Cinema at its most intoxicating and immaculate, it is an achingly romantic love story about two women whose immediate and mutual attraction leads them to courageously defy the suffocating conformities of mid-century America.

With gorgeous cinematography from longtime collaborator Ed Lachman (who shot on Super-16 film to produce the lush, muted hues of the era’s glamour mags), plus an exquisite attention to detail to the style and beauty of 50s design and fashion, Haynes has created the perfect melodrama, one that will be at the forefront of the Oscar® race.

Our Cinema Curator Mark Cosgrove says:

"I had been aware of Todd Haynes' Carol for maybe a year now primarily through the fact that it was being shot by cinematographer Ed Lachman. Lachman is one of the great cinematographers whose work embodies an indelible spirit of independence and references beyond film to photography and painting. He has worked with many directors but over the past decade formed strong creative relationship with Haynes and Austrian director Ulrich Seidl. Carol, set in the America of the 50s, invokes the paintings of Edward Hopper but is less of an homage to the period than their previous collaboration Far From Heaven and more emotionally honest for it.”

• There will be a Cinébabies screening of Carol on Mon 30 Dec at 11:00.
• Also, check out our our December A Woman of Influence - Elizabeth Karlsen Brunches Season in which Elizabeth has picked four films films which have inspired her and influenced the making of Carol.

Watch a Q&A with the film's producer...

Presented in partnership with Bristol Pride.

We’re getting a new kitchen in December

Throughout December the builders will be in to fit our new kitchen. We will still have a Soups and Sharing Platters menu and the bar will be open as usual but as the kitchen will be closed Cinebites is going to take a month’s break. Find out more here, including details of the schedule of work. Thank you for your patience in advance.

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