Далеко от рая

2002 American French film by Todd Haynes

Far from Heaven is a 2002 historical romantic drama film written and directed by Todd Haynes, and starring Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, and Patricia Clarkson. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where Moore won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress, and cinematographer Edward Lachman won a prize for Outstanding Individual Contribution. The film tells the story of Cathy Whitaker, a 1950s housewife, living in wealthy suburban Connecticut as she sees her seemingly perfect life begin to fall apart. Haynes pays homage to the films of Douglas Sirk (especially 1955's All That Heaven Allows, 1956's Written on the Wind, and 1959's Imitation of Life), and explores race, gender roles, sexual orientation, and class in the context of 1950s America. Far from Heaven received numerous accolades, including four Academy Award nominations. For her performance, Moore was nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars, Golden Globes, and Screen Actors Guild, and won at the Critics' Choice Awards, while Quaid was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild.

In 1957 suburban Connecticut, Cathy Whitaker seems to be the perfect wife, mother, and homemaker. Her husband, Frank, is an executive at Magnatech, a television advertising company. One evening, Cathy receives a phone call from the local police, who are holding Frank. When she picks him up, he says it is all a misunderstanding, but it turns out that he has been exploring the illicit underground world of gay bars in Hartford. In the midst of all of this, one day Cathy sees an unfamiliar black man walking in her yard. He turns out to be Raymond Deagan, the son of her late gardener, who is taking over his father's accounts. Frank often stays late at the office. One night when he says he is working, Cathy decides to bring him dinner, and she walks in on him passionately kissing a man. He confesses to having had "problems" as a young man and agrees to sign up for conversion therapy. However, their relationship is strained, Frank's work suffers, and he increasingly turns to alcohol. Cathy runs into Raymond at a local art show and, to the consternation of onlookers, initiates a discussion with him about modern painting. After a party, Frank attempts to make love to Cathy, but he is unable to become aroused and accidentally strikes her when she tries to console him. The next day, Raymond catches Cathy crying and asks her to run some errands with him. She agrees, and they wind up going to a bar in a black neighborhood, where Cathy is the only white person present. They are seen together on the street by a gossipy acquaintance of Cathy's, and the woman immediately begins to stir up scandal. When Cathy attends her daughter's ballet performance, the mothers of the other girls shun her. Frank also hears about Cathy and Raymond and, in response to his anger, Cathy denies having an other than professional relationship with Raymond and says she has fired him to quell the rumors. She then tells Raymond that their friendship cannot continue, as it is not "plausible". Cathy and Frank go to Miami for New Year's to try to repair their marriage, but, at the hotel, Frank meets a young man and has another homosexual encounter. While they are gone, three white boys taunt and physically assault Raymond's daughter, Sarah, partly because of her father's rumored relationship with Cathy, and the girl is concussed by a rock thrown at her head. Frank breaks down and tearfully tells Cathy that he has fallen in love with a man and wants a divorce. When Cathy learns what happened to Sarah, she visits Raymond, who says he is moving to Baltimore in two weeks, as the rumors have destroyed his business and led his African American neighbors to throw rocks through his windows. When Cathy tells Raymond she is going to be single and asks if she can come visit him some time, he stoically, but gently, rejects her, saying he has learned his lesson and needs to do what is right for his daughter. Cathy shows up at the train station to see Raymond off, and they silently wave to each other as the train leaves the station.

Haynes wrote the script for the film envisioning Moore and James Gandolfini as Cathy and Frank, respectively. While Moore joined the project immediately, Gandolfini was unavailable, due his commitments to The Sopranos. Haynes' next choice, Russell Crowe, believed that the role was too small, and Jeff Bridges wanted too much money.

Far From Heaven focuses on several controversial issues of the mid twentieth century, such as racism and miscegenation, as well as views on homosexuality and escapism during that time period, and presents these issues through the mise en scène and cinematographic conventions of a 1950s style melodrama. Utilizing the nostalgic mechanisms of a polished, period melodrama, the film challenges the typical sanguine nature of the genre in an effort to highlight the central conflicts of its main characters, Cathy and Frank Whitaker, while also simultaneously shattering the wholesome image of American life during this time period, which is typically romanticized in American culture.

Throughout Far From Heaven, one of the central conflicts faced by the main protagonist Cathy Whitaker comes from her attraction towards Raymond Deagan, the son of her recently deceased gardener, and how it develops in the face of her estrangement from her husband, Frank Whitaker, as he deals with his developing homosexual tendencies. Blue is often used in the film to represent Frank and Cathy's failing marriage, as in the scene in which Cathy receives a phone call from the Hartford police concerning Frank and his "loitering" and, later, when Frank and Cathy leave the psychiatrist's office after their first visit to try to curb Frank's homosexual tendencies. It is in the second of these moments that the only profanity in the entire film is used, by Frank towards Cathy, further demonstrating the coldness and bitterness he feels towards his wife, and perfectly in sync with the color palette that envelops them during this scene. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 84 out of 100 based on 37 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Jonathan Rosenbaum called the film a masterpiece and considered it a companion of Haynes' earlier film Safe (1995) in its use of "the same talented actress to explore suburban alienation in comparably gargantuan consumerist surroundings". Regarding the casting of Raymond, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian wrote that "Haysbert brings a Poitier esque dignity and poise." The film was nominated in four categories at the 75th Academy Awards: Best Actress in a Leading Role (Julianne Moore), Best Original Screenplay (Todd Haynes), Best Cinematography (Edward Lachman), and Best Original Score (Elmer Bernstein). At the Venice Film Festival, it was nominated for the Golden Lion, while Moore won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress and Lachman won a prize for Outstanding Individual Contribution. They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?, a website that gathers various critics' polls, found Far from Heaven to be the 56th most acclaimed film of the 21st century. In August 2016, BBC Magazine conducted a poll on the 21st century's 100 greatest films so far, with Far from Heaven ranking at number 86. In 2019, The Guardian ranked the film 13th in its list of the best films of the 21st century.

Theatrical songwriting team Scott Frankel and Michael Korie worked with Richard Greenberg on an Off Broadway bound musical adaptation. The musical opened at Playwrights Horizons in Spring of 2013. Kelli O'Hara starred in the central role.