Mrs. Cathy Whitaker (Julianne Moore) is the perfect 1950s woman, running a household and raising two young children while her executive husband Frank (Dennis Quaid) is increasingly absent from their house, and their marriage. She develops a friendship that deepens into something more with the family's gardener, a single father named Raymond (Dennis Haysbert)— a and scandalous development, given that Raymond is Black and Kathy is white. Longing for connection, the pair enter into a blossoming romance that threatens their social standing, and potentially Raymond's safety. Lush, swooning and heartbreaking, Far From Heaven is Todd Haynes' loving homage to the melodramas of Douglas Sirk tempered with a sobering depiction of suburban repression.

Simply put, one of the most visually striking films of the 21st Century— Haynes is working with painterly attention to detail here, with every shot a mini masterpiece of composition and colour. The cast is similarly on form, including an early Viola Davis role that highlights her singular talent, and Julianne Moore's nuanced depiction of a woman whose grace and charm belies a woman tortured by conflicting desires won her Best Actress at Venice Film Festival. Beyond the stunning visuals Far From Heaven is a remarkably complex piece, unwilling to give in to nostalgia and showing in sharp relief the bigotry and prejudice simmering in the idyllic New England suburbs.