Far From Heaven response/reaction

To get to the point, I really enjoyed watching Far From Heaven. Some of the themes expressed (the individuality and choices women can make, even in that time, staying true to yourself, going against social norms) reminded me a bit of the movie Pleasantville, mostly because at the beginning Cathy's world seemed normal and bright-until it quickly downturned into confusion.

Also, I thought the use of color in the film was stunning and very deliberate. After reading the "Color" article, I realized that the reason behind the heavy blue shading during all of the nighttime scenes (to be able to emphasize nighttime but still film in the day), and that was an interesting touch; strangely, had this been a black-and-white film, I would have been able to tell that it was nighttime, but seeing the blue shading in color confused me a for a few moments because I wasn't sure if the blue was supposed to symbolize something other than night. And speaking of color symbols, I noticed that within the structures of the buildings, the portions of the house or business that represented the "man's" domain often had blue walls or carpets. For example, Frank's office, the doctor's office, the living room, and even the car were all blue. Also, although this is a rather inconsistent note, when Cathy supported her husband's beliefs or was playing a submissive role, (such as when she accompanied Frank to the doctor's) she often wore blue.

Raymond, on the other hand, ALWAYS wore earth tones, and even his house was covered with the rich oranges, browns, greens, and a hint of yellow to emphasize his warm, inviting personality, highlighted by the fact that he worked with plants and nature all day. The earth tones grounded his personality even more, if you'll excuse the pun. Moreover, the African American maid employed by Cathy and Frank nearly always wore yellow, and her domain (the kitchen, kitchen table, and part of the dining room) had yellow walls and accessories as well. Even the phone that she answered was yellow, but unfortunately I do not know what the color yellow would symbolize. Neutrality? A distance from her employers?

There were too scenes that stood out to me. The first was when Frank was in the doctor's office hearing about the grueseome treatments to cure his homosexuality. Immediately my eye was drawn to a silhouette of Queen Nefertiti on the doctor's wall. I found it strange that the doctor would have an interest in a prominent Ancient Egyptian figure, who was more popular in ancient Egypt than her husband (and still remains to this day). Why would such a dominant male figure hold the portrait of a famous lady in his office? The other scene that caught my attention was when Cathy heard from her maid about the attack of Raymond's daughter. As she's pleading with her maid and putting on her coat, Cathy looks over to the wall of her living room, and spots the witch hazel Raymond had given to Cathy. While the rest of the room in that shot is muted out, only the bright red flowers in the dull blue room stood out, meaning (to me) that while everything else in her life was "dead," this one spark of passion was still alive.

Okay, I lied...the third and final scene that I am reminded of is that when Cathy fired and bid farewell to Raymond in public (out on the streets), I noticed that her black and white fur coat blended in perfectly with the marble/stone walls of the building. This signified that Cathy was very embarassed and wanted to blend in with her surroundings as she fired the one person who gave her happiness, and it also represented her conforming to societal standards because now she too was shunning contact with a black man.