It Only Takes 30 Seconds For Cate Blanchett To Break Your Heart In This Exclusive 'Carol' Clip

In the 1950s, homosexuality's illegality meant a simple morality clause could revoke a parent's custody rights. "Carol," one of the year's best movies, is a determinedly unpolitical look at this time period, but in a clip exclusive to The Huffington Post, Cate Blanchett's title character has access to her daughter threatened in the wake of her affair with a younger woman (Rooney Mara). Carol is in the midst of a divorce when she falls for Mara's Therese, provoking a series of battles with her bewildered husband (Kyle Chandler). This brief clip offers a window into the agony such blackmail would induce.

Directed by Todd Haynes ("Far From Heaven") and adapted from Patricia Highsmith's seminal 1952 novel The Price of Salt, "Carol" opened to excellent box-office receipts and tremendous reviews in limited release this past weekend. It will expand to additional theaters in the weeks to come, but first, watch the scene below.

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