Amazon.co.uk Review Far from Heaven is a uniquely beautiful film from one of the smartest and most idiosyncratic of contemporary directors, Todd Haynes (Safe and Velvet Goldmine). It takes the lush 1950s visual style of so-called women's pictures (particularly those of Douglas Sirk, director of Imitation of Life and Magnificent Obsession) to tell a story that mixes both sexual and racial prejudice. Julianne Moore, portraying an amazing fusion of vulnerability and will power, plays a housewife whose husband (Dennis Quaid) has a secret gay life. When she finds solace in the company of a black gardener (Dennis Haysbert), rumours and peer pressure destroy any chance she has at happiness. It's astonishing how a movie with such a stylised veneer can be so emotionally compelling; the cast and filmmakers have such an impeccable command of the look and feel of the genre that every moment is simultaneously artificial and deeply felt. Far from Heaven is ingenious and completely engrossing. --Bret Fetzer Product Description Todd Haynes' tale of 1950s prejudices in America. Housewife Cathy Whitaker (Julianne Moore) thinks she has the perfect set-up; two children, a successful husband (Dennis Quaid) and a house in the suburbs. But this vision is shattered one night when she surprises her husband at work and finds him in the arms of another man. Not able to tell anyone in her social circle, she finds solace with their African-American gardener, Raymond (Dennis Haysbert). However, when they are seen alone together by Cathy's best friend (Celia Weston) - a social taboo in that era - the gossip begins and this threatens to reveal the Whitaker's secret life.

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