CAROL Special Screenings

Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara give luminous performances in Todd Haynes’ adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s influential lesbian novel “The Price of Salt.” Mara stars as shopgirl Therese Belivet, underwhelmed by her life working in a department store and dating a young man whose affections for her far surpass hers for him. When glamorous housewife Carol Aird (Blanchett) breezes into her life, Therese must confront suppressed desires that feverishly rush to the surface. As the women begin a relationship, they embark on a cross-country odyssey and come to understand the difficulties of living the life they want in 1950s America. Haynes’ brilliant direction, along with Ed Lachman’s grainy, richly hued cinematography evoking postwar photography, creates one of the most gorgeous films of the year. — Beth Hanna