Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.5

Far from Heaven Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 5, 2019

One of the kind of fascinating if maybe perplexing things about Douglas Sirk is that he directed almost 50 films (including some shorts) over the course of a career that spanned multiple decades, and yet if you asked a lot of people who consider themselves devoted cineastes, you’d probably only get a handful or so of Sirk’s films listed as examples of his work. Sirk was of course famous (some might say infamous) for his series of 1950s melodramas. Beginning in 1953 with All I Desire, and then continuing with such well remembered films as 1954’s Magnificent Obsession, There's Always Tomorrow and All That Heaven Allows from 1955, 1956’s Written on the Wind, 1957’s Interlude, 1958’s A Time to Love and a Time to Die and 1959’s Imitation of Life, Sirk pioneered a subgenre which was often derided in its day as nothing more than “women’s pictures”, but which has come to be reassessed in the intervening years as a group of films with fairly potent subtexts.

Todd Haynes takes some basic formulations that were at least hinted at in some of Sirk’s work and delivers them virtually subtext free in Far From Heaven, though one of the interesting things about the film is that its temporal context, the same 1950s era where Sirk arguably made his most lasting impression, is absolutely rife with subtext throughout the film. Far From Heaven follows the slow but steady deconstruction of the very carefully constructed world of suburban housewife Cathy Whitaker (Julianne Moore), who in fairly quick order discovers her husband Frank (Dennis Quaid) has been experimenting with gay relationships, and that a black man named Raymond Deagan (Dennis Haysbert) who has a tangential connection to her family is becoming something of an obsession for her.

Far From Heaven therefore becomes something of an exercise not just in "revealed subtext", but in a kind of "meta" reimagining of the tamped down world of characters caught in the confines of the Eisenhower Era. The film's gorgeous production design, which pretty much perfectly recreates the Technicolor splendor of many of Sirk's better remembered films, makes for a rather incongruous and yet highly effective contrast to the passions, mostly "illicit" (at least in the world of the 1950s), that populate the film. Performances are superb throughout, toeing a surprisingly believable line between the overheated histrionics of a traditional Sirk "three hankie weeper" and the more "realistic" ambience preferred by at least some early 21st century filmmakers.

Far from Heaven Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Far From Heaven is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber Studio Classics, an imprint of Kino Lorber, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. There's some fairly significant wobble during the opening credits, which makes me wonder if this might be an older, unrestored master, but that said, there are both some big positives along with a few negatives to this transfer. Chief among the positives is the absolutely glorious accounting of the palette, one which Haynes and cinematographer Edward Lachman (Oscar nominated) stuff full of almost mind bogglingly suffused blues, purples, teals and a variety of other tones that often evoke a rather autumnal ambience. While things looked a trifle dark to me at times, contrast is generally solid and densities are full bodied. Detail levels are also often quite impressive, including everything from the crosshatched background that underlies the opening and closing credits, to elements like the brick sidings on several buildings. Slight crush accompanies some of the darkest scenes, especially those bathed in cobalt blues. There's a slight "digital" quality at times here, and a few instances where haloing can be spotted (keep your eyes on the edges of the building featured prominently in the very last shot, especially during the fade to black). I personally consider these to be relatively minor annoyances, and my hunch is most fans of the film should be generally well pleased with the appearance of this transfer.

Far from Heaven Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Far From Heaven features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 mixes. The surround mix capably opens up both Elmer Bernstein's soaring score, as well as ambient environmental sounds in some outdoor sequences, as well as providing a more immersive soundscape even in some interior scenes, as in the gay bar Frank visits or even the ballet performance Cathy attends. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout.

Far from Heaven Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Director Todd Haynes


• The Making of "Far from Heaven" (480i; 11:32) has some enjoyable behind the scenes fare and interviews.


• Anatomy of a Scene (480i; 27:28) also has some above average interviews, and looks at a variety of technical aspects.


• A Filmmaker's Experience with Julianne Moore and Todd Haynes (480i; 5:06) features brief interviews with the pair interspersed with scenes from the film.


• Far from Heaven Trailer (480i; 1:14)

Additionally, trailers for other Kino Lorber releases are also included.

Far from Heaven Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's always struck me as a little funny that two directors from my hometown of Portland, Oregon, Todd Haynes and Gus Van Sant, each decided to pay homage to one of their favorite directors with a piece of theirs. Van Sant famously (some might say infamously) "remade" Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho in what was advertised as a (more or less, anyway) shot by shot recreation of the original. In my estimation, Haynes' approach of referencing Douglas Sirk without ever overtly really "mentioning" him is by far the more effective strategy, and Far From Heaven is both a stylistic tour de force as well as a surprisingly emotionally cathartic experience, especially for anyone who has ever perceived themselves to be an "outsider", for whatever reasons. Technical merits are generally solid, and Kino has ported over several interesting supplements from the old DVD release. Highly recommended.