mommy's little girl: a short essay on Carol's love triangle

[amoraobscura]

The first time I watched Carol (the Todd Haynes directed, Cate Blanchett starring lesbian period piece), I was happy and surprised at the movie’s ending: I didn’t expect Carol and Therese to end up together. Sure, they want to be together, but they’re both women and this type of thing is just not supposed to happen. Until it does. Carol ends with Therese deciding to accept Carol’s newest invitation, making it clear that even after the film fades to black these two women will still be together.

I recently rewatched Carol for the third time and while the happy ending is still as happy, I realized that the main source of conflict for Carol and Therese—the main thing keeping them apart—isn't just them being lesbians.

Carol has an unusual love triangle. In the movie, Carol isn’t forced to choose between being with Therese or being with a man. While Carol’s estranged husband Harge is the movie’s biggest bad guy, he’s not really that important to the story. He and Carol were over before the movie began. And neither Carol nor Therese have any hang ups about their feelings for each other. Carol’s as much of an out lesbian as she can be without explicitly being called a lesbian, and Therese has no problem acting on her growing feelings for Carol, whatever they are. Unlike some gay stories, the question is never will they or won’t they act on their feelings—of course they will--but something else entirely.

The real love triangle is that Carol must choose between being with Therese or with her young daughter Rindy. Throughout the movie, Carol shows interest in Therese, stringing her along, only to abandon her. And what does Carol abandon Therese for? To go somewhere with Rindy or to go to a custody hearing for—you guessed it—Rindy. The movie literally ends with Carol choosing to give up full custody of her daughter so she can continue being with Therese. The movie has Carol give reasons for the decision—saying what kind of parent would she really be if she can’t be her authentic self—but I don’t think it really cares about that or about the ramifications of her choice (like leaving her daughter to be raised by a violent bigot). And Carol doesn't care about commentary, using this plotline to maybe make a point about Carol being denied traditional motherhood, unable to be a lesbian and a mother, it's really more about using it as a roadblock to the romance.

It’s all about the romance. 

All Therese wants is for Carol to choose her. Therese bemoans the situation—that Carol is going through all this and there’s nothing she can do to help her. She also bemoans Carol leaving her. Carol could’ve handled things better—like not leaving Therese to wake up alone in the middle of nowhere—but there’s no real acknowledgement from Therese that it’s okay, understandable, for Carol to leave her. Of course, this woman would rather be with her daughter than some woman she’s only known a week. 

But it’s all about the romance and--in the end--Carol chooses Therese. The titular character chooses her young, young lover over her young daughter.