Carol (2015) 15

Saturday, 9pm, Ch4 Todd Haynes serves up another 1950sset drama, following Far From Heaven, his 2002 homage to the Hollywood melodramas of Douglas Sirk. This film has a nostalgic feel, but there’s also a strong purpose and fierce intelligence beneath the beautiful costumes and seductive period detail. Carol is based on a 1952 romantic novel by thriller writer Patricia Highsmith, and is a partially autobiographical story of forbidden love between Therese (Rooney Mara), a shop girl and aspiring photographer, and Carol (Cate Blanchett, above), an older married woman whose incredible poise belies her unhappiness. Like Highsmith’s novel, the film portrays a complex lesbian relationship without judgment or punishment at a time when it inevitably had to evolve in secrecy, and under immense pressure.