The human brain tends to selectively forget negative images and incidents as a manner of self-protection. As a person gets farther and farther from an event or time period, he tends to remember less and less of the bad things about that event or period. Coupled with the media’s uncanny ability of portraying things as they think people would want to see them (think Father Knows Best), the current American view of the 1950’s is one of an idyllic and simpler time; just look to any current television show set in the ‘50’s to confirm this notion. However, the truth of the matter is that the ‘50’s were not simpler and they certainly were not more idyllic than present. Dealing with racial strife, Communist witch hunts and the Cold War among a host of other problems, the ‘50’s were every bit as complicated as the 1990’s. As the title suggests, this is the main point behind writer/director Todd Haynes’ Far From Heaven.

On paper, the plot of Far From Heaven is quite simple. Haynes staple, Julianne Moore stars as Cathy Whittaker, a housewife whose carefully crafted life of pseudo-’50’s perfection begins to collapse around her. Her husband Frank (Dennis Quaid) is gay and Cathy’s friends begin to ostracize her for being friendly to a black man, Raymond Deagan (Dennis Haysbert).

The beauty of Haynes’ film though comes with the elaborate set up. By all appearances, Cathy lives in a technicolor version of Leave it to Beaver. The trees are bright shades of red and yellow. Her dresses are frilly examples of the clothes June Cleaver might wear. Her kids actually say "shucks" and "golly". However, despite the fact that Cathy’s life appears to be occurring in a place stolen straight from Pleasantville, the events occurring in her life feel as if they are lifted from a bad episode of Ricky Lake ("So Your Husband is Gay...").

This incongruous and contradictory relationship between setting and plot keeps the on-screen action captivating and allows the main characters to take on a heightened reality that truly reflects on the acting performances themselves. Moore, Quaid and Haysbert take advantage of this and deliver stellar turns in their respective roles.

In Far From Heaven, Haynes creates a truly unique and fascinating story and these are traits that aren’t seen anywhere near enough in theaters today.

chris neumer

yes, it's true:

Writer/director Todd Haynes is credited with acting in the movie Swoon in the role of "Phrenology Head".