Carol (2015)

Australian-born actress Cate Blanchett is so gosh-darn watchable! It’s easy to see why Peter Jackson chose her to play Galadriel, with her uncommon grace and immensity of spirit. Strikingly beautiful and commanding a strong screen presence, she continually finds herself in fantasy roles playing powerful rulers or sorcerers. She wields the same out-of-this-world energy in Carol opposite a would-be protegee in Rooney Mara.

A real-life actor mentorship plays out on screen as an unlikely budding romance against 1950s New York. An adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s critically acclaimed The Price of Salt, Carol is a thoughtful, tender and beautifully composed romance drama. The forbidden affair captures the frailty of the human condition from the dizzying climbs of love to the infernal depths of prejudice.

Carol was nominated for six Oscars and five Golden Globes, including nominations for both lead actresses.