Far From Heaven

‘Far From Heaven’

Film Expores Racism and Homosexuality with All Star Cast

By Rebecca Redshaw

Reprinted from NotesFromHollywood.com

farfromheaventhumbOne can argue whether “size does matter” and never know the true answer. But in regards to FAR FROM HEAVEN, age certainly does!

If your remember the fifties from original airings of FATHER KNOWS BEST, you are probably a boomer or older. If your reference tends to be reruns of that show and the frothy hit HAPPY DAYS, then you are either kids or grandkids of boomers.

No matter how old you are, FAR FROM HEAVEN takes you back to an almost unimaginable era when children were polite, wives were proper and husbands’ first words after a long day at the “salt mines” were, “Honey. I’m home.”

Writer/director Todd Haynes tackles two tough issues that were usually voiced in hushed tones in suburban homes when Eisenhower was president, racism and homosexuality. Either topic could have been the sole theme of the film, but clearly Haynes is not one to back away from a challenge.

As the father, Frank Whitaker, Dennis Quaid doesn’t trade his suit jacket for a cardigan sweater when he walks in the door to be greeted by his perfect wife and perfect children. With his emotional baggage, he’s barely able to walk through the door at all.

FarFromHeaven1Dennis Haysbert is the compassionate, “Negro” gardener (the only other token Afro-American is the housekeeper), who just happens to be in the line of vision whenever nosy neighbors are peeking into the Whitakers’ affairs.

But the film’s tour de force is Julianne Moore as Cathy Whitaker, homemaker extraordinaire. At first, she seems like a caricature in full skirts and high heels, but Moore digs deep, realizing the WASP subtlety that kept thinking women of that generation from driving off a cliff or hitting the bottle.

Kudos to Haynes for filming a first rate tribute to Douglas Sirk, famed director of such hits as MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION and IMITATION OF LIFE. [Even including a rear projection scene as Moore drives in her two-tone turquoise station wagon.]

Kudos to Quaid for not shying away from an unsympathetic role and a passionate screen kiss.

And kudos to Moore. Without her believable portrayal, FAR FROM HEAVEN wouldn’t have worked and it did.