I haven't seen Far From Heaven yet, but I am definitely intrigued to see similarities to Mad Men. What makes Betty and Don so fascinating is that they both entered a marriage for totally superficial reasons. Don wanted the "normal" life, the beautiful bride, the picket fences, because it was so drastic from his childhood and his abandoned identity. Betty too wanted the house, two cars, two kids, perfect husband, so she married a man she knows nothing about. Now they're starting to discover who they really are, and it might be that they were never right for each other in the first place.

I will be anxious to note your impressions of FAR FROM HEAVEN, and the comparison to MAD MEN. Thank you.

I saw FAR FROM HEAVEN, and still have mixed feelings about it, though from a set/costume design standpoint it was perfect. I couldn't buy into the secret taboo sexual identity plot line. Maybe I'd seen too many of those '50's soap operas.

I guess I just couldn't get into it because the tearjerkers on which it was based just didn't delve into that area (sexual identity). The crisis was always based on the cheating spouse, illegitimate baby, secret affair or alcoholism. I'm thinking of Written on the Wind, All That Heaven Allows, Magnificent Obsession. By the early 1960's those kind of 1950's soap operas had morphed into a different subset tearjerker of the younger set in Susan Slade, Palm Springs Weekend, Where the Boys Are, Parrish, etc, etc.

Michael, the first movie I remember about a repressed/closeted gay man was 1967's"Reflections in a Golden Eye" with Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor, and the earlier 1959 Tennesse Williams' film "Suddenly Last Summer" with Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor.

So, as vague as it was touched upon in "Suddenly Last Summer" (the never seen Sebastion character using Elizabeth Taylor as bait to lure men), and the confusingly so "Reflections", I guess it does illustrate that plotline of "Far From Heaven" wasn't so far out. I forgot about these two movies.

But you're right, the character Kathy does show the long-suffering wife to perfection, and Dennis Quaid was perfect. I can't remember the end, can you believe it?

'Far From Heaven' was a letdown after watching 'Mad Men'. The movie's themes-class, race, sexuality- and characters-a closeted gay man, a frustrated housewife- are treated with so much more subtlety and grace on 'Mad Men' that I was disappointed early on in the film.
The period details on the show seem superior as well -parts of the movie looked very much like it was taking place on a set (especially the scene in which Julianne Moore steps into her garden to meet Dennis Haysbert for the first time).

The most annoying thing about the movie, though, was the incessant background score. Virtually every scene played out to the sound of melancholy music. When you contrast this with 'Mad Men', in which silence in both the score and the dialogue is used to great effect, the comparison starts to look like an exercise in futility.

Finally, the recurring shock of having a man in a grey overcoat and hat turn around to reveal he's Dennis Quaid and not Jon Hamm took its toll on my 'Mad Men'-addled brain. Even Julianne Moore's and Patricia Clarkson's characters looked and dressed a lot like Betty and Francine. It was like watching your favourite characters perform bad impersonations of themselves. I simply couldn't go on after a point.

To be fair, I think I've been spoilt by 'Mad Men'. Had I not seen the show, I probably would have found the movie decent.

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