“But you will understand this one day. And when it happens, I want you to imagine me there to greet you, our lives stretched out ahead of us, a perpetual sunrise.”

An impeccably crafted movie, so much so that even on my seventh viewing, I'm still discovering new things that leave me in greater awe than I thought possible lol! It's just such an embarrassment of riches, from Lachman's period-specific cinematography, the richly textured production and costume design, the layered performances that work perfectly in tandem with a script that eschews familiar verbal exchanges in favor of nonverbal conversations composed entirely of intense glances, expressive cigarette puffs, and charged inhales and exhales.

Carol is so good that it's easy to look past what an impressively economical and efficient movie it is; I'd argue that there's not a single scene in this movie that could be taken out without compromising the integrity of the story. Every scene is telling us something, every frame so thoughtfully composed to communicate with the audience, and yet it all feels so fucking effortless.

Seeing it in a theater again reminded me of how essential, how moving that final shot really is. After nearly two hours of seeing these characters obscured, restrained, and clouded by the world around them, we finally see them in absolute clarity, their locked gaze a reminder of what true love really is: to be seen for who you are.