Far From Heaven, 2002

March 25, 2022 | DAMIEN RIEHLE

The movie begins with a woman, Cathy Whitaker (Julianne Moore) and her family returning home from an outing or a trip, and the maid, Sybil (Viola Davis) helps them unpack the car. Then the next morning the kids left for school and the husband, Frank Whitaker (Denis Quaid) left for work. Cathy had an interview set up for after everyone left. Cathy then sees a man walking in her backyard and is nervous because the man is African American. The man’s name was Raymond Deagan (Dennis Haysbert), and he was Otis’s son, who is her gardener. Cathy's husband has been very busy with work recently and it is really stressing him out. Raymond, who is now replacing his father, finds a scarf that Cathy lost.

Cathy’s husband didn’t come home that night and so she went to his job to confront him. She found him having sex with a guy. She loses it when she walks in on her husband, and she has no clue what to do with herself. They decide that the husband is ill and should receive treatment.

Cathy then sees the Raymond and his daughter Sarah (Jordan Nia Elizabeth) at an art gala. His daughter Sarah then leaves to go play with some boys so the two can have some alone time. Cathy states that she is known for being nice to African Americans during this racist time. Cathy then is at dinner with some people who are known for being not so nice to African Americans during this time and they call her out for being nice to the gardner.

When Kathy got home to her husband he was really drunk and he got angry at her for no reason. They then start to kiss on the couch and the husband pulls away and starts crying because he realizes he cannot do it. He then accidentally hit her in the head and the husband ends up walking away. Her best friend sees Cathy’s head in the morning and asks if something happened with her husband. Cathy then runs to the back of the house to cry and gets some alone time.

She runs into Raymond while she is back there, and he invites her to come on a car ride with him to help take her mind off everything. At first, she said she is too busy and politely declines. She sooner realized this was best for her at this time and she decided to go with Raymond. They stop at a pond and engage in some meaningful conversations. He brings her to an African American restaurant which happens to be his favorite and Cathy feels slightly out of place. He then comforts her and asks her to dance.

Cathy then goes to her daughter’s recital and all the parents and kids were keeping their distance from her and her daughter. Her friend calls her shortly after this and says that everyone was talking about her and Raymond. Her husband finds out and is extremely upset. She then feels she needs to get some distance from Raymond, when she tries to walk away he grabbed her arm. A white male across the street yells at him to take his hand off her.

Cathy then goes on vacation to Miami with her husband to try and heal her relationship and when her husband goes to the bathroom, he is followed by the man he cheated on her with in the first place.

After this Raymond's daughter is walking home from school and she gets chased by three white boys into an alley. One of the boys happened to be Cathy’s son. They threw stones at her and hit her in the head and knocked her out and the boys took off running.

Cathy returns and tells her friends everything about the trip and when she brings up Raymond her friend kind of turns on her. Kathy finds out that her son was one of the ones that threw rocks at Raymond’s daughter and goes over there in an instant. Everyone is still mad at the fact that these two had two different skin colors and wanted to be together. They started throwing rocks at Raymond’s house every night. Raymond decides he is moving to Baltimore, and she meets them on the train to say goodbye and the movie ends.

March 25, 2022 | ALEXA ZUBULAKE

This film relates to care ethics because care ethics focuses on relationships and emotions. One acts morally through maintaining relationships and showing care for others and their relationships. In the film, Cathy is shown sticking by Frank after he is caught kissing a man and goes to therapy. At this point, Frank is in a vulnerable state but Cathy still cares for him and is very kind to him even after she finds him cheating on her. Cathy is thinking of her family, not just herself, when deciding how to handle the situation. This shows Gilligan’s theory that women judge situations with care ethics while men look at situations with ethics of justice. Cathy also focuses on her relationship with Raymond even when many people do not agree with her friendship with him. Even after the whole town is talking about the two of them together, she still meets with him to give him a proper goodbye. Cathy is putting their relationship first and giving her and Raymond’s friendship the respect it deserves. Cathy cares for Raymond and treats him with the respect that others do not because of the segregation that takes place during the time period. Cathy also says goodbye to Raymond because her husband gets angry at the rumors he hears of the two of them together. Cathy is prioritizing her husband’s needs. Because she cares for her husband, she chooses to say goodbye to Raymond. Cathy’s caring demeanor is what is driving her moral decision-making in this film.

Additional Resources

Online Articles:

James Bowman, Far From Heaven, EPPC Online, November 12, 2002

Roger Ebert, Far From Heaven - Movie Review, 2002

Mitra Moin, Far From Heaven and Carol: Channeling 1950s Melodrama, July 2016

Hunter, Far From Heaven, The Soul of the Plot, 2015

Moriah Burbank, Far From Heaven Film Review – A Bittersweet Romance, July 2018

Videos