Learning to Love Carol

CarolDirected by Todd HaynesOpens November 20
The first time I saw Carol, when the credits rolled, a critic cried bravo, which I immediately took as a protective gesture for a film that had not gripped me, had somehow lacked the passion I felt the two characters—Rooney Mara’s young shop clerk Terese and Cate Blanchett’s philandering housewife of the title—must feel. Ordinarily, I would be the one rolling my eyes a little at the standard complaints about Todd Haynes films