Please look at this photo. Look at it! Look at Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara in mid-century apparel. Look at Blanchett dragging on a cigarette. Look at Mara starring demurely while she does so. Look a the snow falling gently around them. Tell me that doesn’t make you want to roll up to the nearest restaurant and order the creamed spinach over poached eggs. And a dry martini. With an olive. That it doesn’t make you want to forget your glove in a department store in the hope that the cute clerk will make a special call to return it and you can get to know each other better. Tell me that doesn’t make you want to dump your boyfriend, pack a bag, and head on a road trip to nowhere so you can finally, finally know what it is like to make love to another woman. What I am saying is look at this photo and tell me it’s not a scene from a sequel to Carol!
Sadly, I must tell you, it is not. I legally am obligated, since we bought this photo to publish it on a reputable entertainment website, to explain that this is a shot from the set of a forthcoming Guillermo del Toro film, Nightmare Alley. It also stars Bradley Cooper, Willem Dafoe, Toni Collette, and The Shape of Water’s Richard Jenkins.
But enough about that. (Apologies, Guillermo de Toro. I look forward to seeing it.) Let’s go back to pretending it’s the follow-up to the absolutely perfect 2015 lesbian period piece that I saw at the Angelika with MY DAD. (He picked it! We simply have to stan a parental ally.) Carol and Therese are together. Their lingering stare in that final scene in the Oak Room has amounted to a loving and lasting relationship. Carol is finally out from under the thumb of her horrible husband, Harge. She doesn’t see much of Rindy. This breaks Carol’s heart, but she believes living an authentic life is the best example she can set for her daughter. Therese is thriving at her job working in the photo department at the New York Times. Occasionally, they get together with their friend Abby (Sarah Paulson) for weekends in the Catskills. Imagine it! Carol, the sequel. Carol 2: Judgement Gay. Carol 2: The Fast and Bicurious. Carol 2: The Empire Dykes Back.