MILD SPOILER. One of my favorite aspects of the story is the approach to Carol's emotional resolution in the ending. Rather than played as a woman desperate at any cost to make this relationship happen, Blanchett makes her persuasive case, accepts Therese's decision, painful as it is, and then gets on with both her evening and her life. One of the adult and unsentimental aspects of that fadeout: Carol is enjoying herself, invested in her company for the evening, not forlorn in her dejection, curled up in a ball. When Therese spots her, Carol's never more sure of herself and her own presence. She's never been more attractive in the story, and it's a testament to this woman's survival skills that she is so together on the cusp of their reunion. What's more attractive than someone that confident? If anything, it's the swooniest moment in the film, because Carol is at the top of her game.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling