Far from Heaven
2002 film by Todd Haynes
Far from Heaven is a 2002 historical romantic drama film directed and written by Todd Haynes, starring Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert and Patricia Clarkson. Moore plays a 1950s housewife living in wealthy suburban Connecticut as she sees her seemingly perfect life begin to fall apart.
Haynes intended the film as an homage to the melodramas of Douglas Sirk (especially 1955's All That Heaven Allows, 1956's Written on the Wind, and 1959's Imitation of Life), which explored issues of social entrapment and taboo relationships. Haynes extended those subjects to include interracial relationships, gender roles, sexual orientation, and class in the context of 1950s America.
The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September 2002, where Moore won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress, and cinematographer Edward Lachman won a prize for Outstanding Individual Contribution. Far from Heaven received numerous accolades, including four Academy Award nominations, including Best Actress for Moore and Best Original Screenplay. Moore was also nominated for a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award, while Quaid was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Plot
In 1957 suburban Connecticut, Cathy Whitaker seems to be the perfect wife, mother, and homemaker. Her husband, Frank, is an executive at Magnatech, a television advertising company. One evening, Cathy receives a phone call from the local police, who are holding Frank.
“Far from Heaven” enters the record as 2002 film by Todd Haynes. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Heaven, film and Todd can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Far from Heaven” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Heaven, film and Todd provides the most credible route into that argument.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1130664. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 3 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2002, 1955, 1956 and 1959.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Far from Heaven”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Far from Heaven primary sources, Far from Heaven archive and Heaven research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Far from Heaven”?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Far from Heaven” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.