Before the 2015 movie Carolstarted raking in the Oscar nominations, the general public mostly knew Patricia Highsmith for her psychological thrillers Strangers On A Train (1950) and The Talented Mr Ripley (1955), two stories about mystery and murder. In fact, The Price of Salt is the only one of Highsmith’s novels that does not feature a violent crime – but it is still incredibly suspenseful. Yes, Highsmith introduces a gun in the third act, but there is more to it than that; this story about two lesbians falling in love in 1950′s New York City is set up like a detective. The protagonist, Therese, sets out to solve a very specific puzzle: does Carol love me back? Is there a chance we can be together? Do I dare to put everything on the line for her?
Therese Belivet: I wanna know, I think… I mean, I wanna ask you things, but I’m… I’m not sure that you want that… Carol Aird: [crying] Ask me, things… Please…
Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn were the inspirations for the female lovers at the heart of Carol according to dramatist Phyllis Nagy who wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Price of Salt. In her 20s, Nagy had been personally acquainted with Highsmith. According to Nagy:
“…Rooney’s channelling some weird version of the young [Patricia Highsmith] who, with her elfin hairstyle, looked a bit like Audrey Hepburn.”
“That particular character in Rear Window [played by Grace Kelly] — very helpful, very kind, and just seething with this unrelieved sexual tension. Physically, this was [Patricia’s] type.”
So intriguing. All I can say is: Grace and Audrey would have made marvelous lesbians!
“Then Carol slipped her arm under her neck, and all the length of their bodies touched fitting as if something had prearranged it. Happiness was like a green vine spreading through her, stretching fine tendrils, bearing flowers through her flesh. She had a vision of a pale white flower, shimmering as if seen in darkness, or through water. Why did people talk of heaven, she wondered.”
*shows up to a high-society cocktail party with a purse filled w/ 300 garden snails* these are my escorts for the evening
this isn’t a shitpost, Patricia Highsmith (queer novelist) was just Like That™:
Highsmith loved cats, and she bred about three hundred snails in her garden at home in Suffolk, England. Highsmith once attended a London cocktail party with a “gigantic handbag” that “contained a head of lettuce and a hundred snails” which she said were her “companions for the evening.”(src)
