A wonderful and all-too-rare film.

Full Review | Feb 9, 2021

It makes me wish the word "epic" hadn't been completely diluted so I could bring the full weight of its meaning to bear on this love story. Extraordinary? Singular? Remarkable? Yes, all of those things too.

Full Review | Jun 26, 2018

To call Carol a Christmas miracle feels like a gaudy understatement, but that's sort of exactly what it is.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Feb 27, 2017

The smile of recognition and understanding that closes things out is an unforgettable celebratory stunner that shook me right to my very core.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Aug 16, 2016

This is a slender movie that Haynes gives plenty of antique atmosphere.

Full Review | Aug 16, 2016

A showcase for the towering talents of Blanchett and Mara, Carol is a sumptuous watch.

Full Review | Jun 21, 2016

Never has the impossible glamour of Cate Blanchett been used to better effect than in Todd Hayne's ravishing and romantic Carol.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 12, 2016

'Carol' feels like the third part of a loose trilogy of films set in the past, about women who are trapped by the confines of their time.

Full Review | May 3, 2016

Both women are magnificent and it's thanks to them, and to Haynes's refined talent, that this story of love and passion is so convincing, so tender, and so painful.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 12, 2016

Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara take us inside a passionate story of desire and retribution that's both satisfying and disturbing.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jan 22, 2016

Haynes taps into universal anxieties about love and relationships without ever letting go of the sense of imprisonment that came with being gay in the 1950s.

Full Review | Jan 15, 2016

Haynes maintains the film's temperature at a low simmer and expertly brings it to the boil, but while "Carol" builds to a scene of intense eroticism, it's mostly about all the things you can't reach out and touch.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Jan 3, 2016

This is about two people who didn't know what their lives were until they met each other, then scrambling, in their muted, buttoned-up way, to figure out what happens next. Haynes loves them so much that he believes they can. You will too.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Dec 31, 2015

As a love story this left me unsatisfied, though I enjoyed the lush period trappings and the flattering sense of how enlightened I am compared to people in the 1950s.

Full Review | Dec 29, 2015

The lesbian affair at its heart is rendered with intelligence and care, and if there are speeches to be made, they are happily few, and far more personal than political.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 25, 2015

Will love conquer all? Probably not. The bigger question is whether it will endure. The lush, beautifully acted and shot "Carol" answers this with a sweet smile.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Dec 25, 2015

"Carol" demonstrates that a period piece can engagingly comment on modern times.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Dec 24, 2015

"Carol" possesses the same quiet, catlike powers of its magnetic title character: It swirls around to ambush you ... and make you swoon.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Dec 24, 2015

Cate Blanchett is outstanding as a married woman who falls for a younger woman. As that younger woman, Rooney Mara is even better.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Dec 24, 2015

In Carol, all the elements dovetail perfectly to create a movie that is as irresistible as its title character. The movie has an allure that is almost trancelike, mimicking for the viewers the inescapable attraction experienced by the two main characters.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Dec 23, 2015