Cate Blanchett drama “Carol” tipped for Cannes Palme D’Or

PanARMENIAN.Net - A film starring Cate Blanchett and Mara Rooney about an illicit lesbian romance in 1950s New York has been hailed by critics at Cannes, BBC Bews reports.

Carol - based on a 1952 novel by Patricia Highsmith, author of The Talented Mr Ripley - is winning rave reviews for its lead performances.

Blanchett denied speculation suggesting she drew on her own early gay relationships to create the role.

But she added, "In 2015, the point should be: who cares?"

The film, directed by Todd Haynes, follows the blossoming relationship between a glamorous married woman (Blanchett) and an impressionable shop girl (Mara).

The film is seen by some critics as a companion piece to Haynes' Far From Heaven, about an illicit romance between a white woman and a black man, also set in the 1950s.

Writing in the Hollywood Reporter, Todd McCarthy praised "Haynes' fastidious, intelligent and somewhat leisurely adaptation" while Peter Bradshaw in the Guardian called it "a creamily sensuous, richly observed piece of work, handsomely detailed and furnished."

Screen Daily's Tim Grierson concluded: "It's such stately, evocative, confident filmmaking, the only reservation being that it's also a bit chilly."

In 2013 La Vie d'Adele (Blue is the Warmest Colour), a French film about a lurid lesbian affair between two students, won the festival top prize, the Palme d'Or, but met with controversy over its anti-feminist tone and the fall-out between the male director and his female stars.