I love Todd Haynes but I can't entirely get on the bandwagon for this one, finding it to be a film I admire a lot more than I actually enjoy. Sure, it always looks very nice, the direction is technically impressive and Carter Burwell's score is well up to the guy's standards. But as a romance, this just failed to click with me. I never really got  a feel for why these two people even liked each other, nevermind loved each other. Perhaps the casting just predetermined that this film wasn't really meant for me. I like Cate Blanchett but I've always considered her kind of overrated. To me, she's a style over substance actress who's all about screen presence with little in the way of genuine psychological depth, as though her sole reason for performing is to win awards, rather than to reveal anything real about the human condition. I still prefer her to Rooney Mara, however, who I consider an actress with zero screen presence and who, while not incompetent, adds next to nothing to her characters. Overall, an engaging enough film but not a patch on past Haynes achievements like Safe, I'm Not There, Superstar, Velvet Goldmine and Far from Heaven.