A wonderful film and Blanchett is luminously memorable. Rooney Mara provides a wonderfully vivid pixie-faced contrast to the ultra cool and sophisticated Cate. A fascinTong look at love and how it suddenly and inexplicably strikes in the most unexpected places. The look of the film is characteristically superb as one expects with Haynes. I had the odd feeling all the time though that it should all be taking place in London and not NYC. Must check original novel and see if that was a change that was made in the film version. Costumes were stunning and superbly revealing of character ( and I see the apparently immortal Sandy Powell did them).
A slightly ambiguously happy ending was a lovely conclusion given how such stories at that time tend to end.
Oh and one other important element. The structure was excellent and enhanced the story and involved us more. The vast majority of the film was a flashback from the opening scene and when we returned to it at the end, having just heard a revelatory statement from one of the leads, it put everything in perspective. But the was one lovely detail I noticed noticed at the start where two people in rapid succession laid a hand on the shoulder of one of the lead but the way they did it and the comparative length strongly hinted at key elements that were satisfyingly confirmed she we re-saw the scene at the end. Watch the film and you will understand.