Just when it can't get any worse, you run out of cigarettes

Six films in and we're taking a turn away from the action and science fiction scenes that have come before and barrelling towards the present. It's 2015, the year that broke cinema history as mega franchises roll out their biggest sequels yet and smash box office records around the globe with the likes of Jurassic World and Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens. But not all success has been found in the Hollywood machine as an independent has risen after 11 years of development to sweep accolades from some of the biggest award houses around. With a graceful look and remarkable 1950's feel get ready to delve into the steamy and forbidden world of Carol.

From the very first frame Director Todd Haynes had me hooked on Carol, instantly throwing me into the city streets of 1950's New York, with its moody and dramatic lighting echoing the film noir qualities of Michael Curtiz's Casablanca (1942) but with a slight Dark Deco twist similar to Eric Radomski's designs for Batman: The Animated Series (1992). Then completely flipping once we're inside and giving us the soft warms hues of 50's glamour, everything shining and opulant especially our object of desire Carol, played by Cate Blanchett, her hair brilliantly set and lit to entrance and entice, she is the quintessential essence of movie star.

I'm always amazed by how much proper use of lighting can alter an image, turning an everyday looking room into a palace hall or a corridor into a twisted and haunted void. It can set the tone of a scene, give off subtle clues to a characters motives and designs, and even transport us to other places and times. Which cinematographer Edward Lachman uses superbly here, as Frankenberg's department store's cold fluorescent lights flicker into life we're treated to a world of capitalist America in it's infancy and the almost robotic way in which its middle classes lived. A shocking contrast to the warm soft palette of our time later in Carol's house and the hotel rooms we share with her, as Lachman creates a physical effect of Carol lighting up every room she's in.

It's this attention to the almost unseen detail that Haynes deploys throughout the feature that makes the attraction of Rooney Mara's Therese to Carol so believable. For Therese, Carol emits an ethereal beauty, strange and seductive that passes the question of why and shows the two's desire for each other as something undeniably natural. A rare quality in a film depicting a lesbian relationship in this time as it is neither overly romanticised nor overly sexualised and in fact Carol contains only one sex scene between its title roles.

Coupled with such wonderful imagery is the film's outstanding soundtrack composed by Carter Burwell who weaves together a hauntingly beautiful main theme that rivals Dario Marianelli's Atonement (2007) and has already won him the academy award for best original score. Soft, playful and yet with a hint of a suppressed strength Carter's score really adds a whole other dimension of emotional weight to the film. And works hard to create an ever present sense of yearning throughout the piece that lifts you at exactly the right times, and has you tearing up the next, this piece will definitely have you humming along long after the credits have ceased.

With Carol, Hayes has created a truly wonderful adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's The price of salt, adding flair and empowerment to this delightfully tragic tale of women who lived through a time of oppression, secrecy and yet found something beautiful within each other.

Bustling with manly machismo, jaw dropping costumes, and plenty of chain smoking this story of girl meets girl, is just the take on the world of lesbian romance the world could use more of. If there's one film you see this summer/winter that gets to the heart of love, make sure it's Carol.