4/5 Interesting retro drama
  by One-Line Film Reviews (Easton, MD)
The Bottom Line:

If you're one of the people who hates when people portray the 1950's as a halcyon age where everyone skipped merrily along (as long as you were white!) grooving to rock and roll, watch Far From Heaven, a recreation of Douglas Sirk's style of filmmaking that follows a prototypical 50's housewife as she discovers that her husband has homosexual tendencies and that she's attracted to a black man; it may be a bit overpraised in some quarters but it's a fine film and a worthy watch.

3/4

1/5 Gay Spin & Propaganda against Blacks!!
  by Observer (San Diego, CA)
This movie is nothing more than Hollywood spinning guilt on the Black population. It's dares to compare the discrimination Blacks face to that of Homosexuals. Homo's choose to have sex with same sex. Black have no choice in the color of their skin. So, Hollywood implies it's due to Christian faith. NOT! A terrible propaganda movie to throw Guilt upon the blacks for being a huge block of people who reject homosexuality. A slow- bad movie! Sad the discrimination of blacks and white relationships depicted, but not believable he would reject her either! Moore has no feelings when her Man goes Gay.into denial and just oh well acceptance. WOMAN DEPICTED AS STUPID! GAY is depicted as ok and as upper crust. While simply Being BLACK OR talking to a black for other than "house help or slave mentality" means he has to move out of town and you are ostracized and outcast! PURE PROPAGANDA!! APPEARS TO ATTEMPT TO ELEVATE HOMO'S ABOVE BLACKS!! BAD MOVIE, DON'T LET YOUR KIDS WATCH THIS AWFUL MOVIE!!

4/5 THESE 1-STAR REVIEWS ARE BEYOND THE PALE
  by RAYMOND NELSON (ST PETERSBURG FL)
RACISM and intolerance; that's all I see in these 1-star reviews. Of course no one will ADMIT to it, least of all to themselves. (Betcha can hardly wait to scream and yell and wave inane placards at your next Tea Party.)
FAR FROM HEAVEN is a beautifully crafted motion picture. If you grew up in the 50's and are objectively open-minded, you'll enjoy this stylish flick. Ignore the naysayers: their COMMENTS are boring and vacuous and without merit.

5/5 "PERFECT!"
  by Terry Richard (Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada)
Julianne Moore is one of Hollywood's most underatted actresses. I first discovered her when she was starring on "As The World Turns" and always knew she would be an amazing actress one day. In "Far From Heaven" Juliiane plays a 1950's housewife who has everything a woman would want in the ultra conservative fifties; a handsome husband, two sweet children, and a beautiful home. However, this housewife's idealic life becomes destroyed when she finds out her husband is a closet homosexual.
The performances in this film are flawless and Dennis Quaid does a superb job playing the husband leading a double life. After watching the movie the viewer gets a glimpse as to what gay men actually went through in the 1950's, with leading two separate lives, the married one and the gay lifestyle that they want so much to live.
Julianne Moore would receive an Oscar nomiantion for Best Actress for her role in "Far From Heaven" and the movie was a hit at the boxoffice. Peter Travers says "Julianne Moore and Dennis Quaid give the performances of their careers".
The DVD comes with a slew of bonuses including a featurette called "The Making of "Far From Heaven" and commentary with director Todd Haynes.

5/5 Far From Parody
  by David Baldwin (Philadelphia,PA USA)
It's obvious that director Todd Haynes used the work of Douglas Sirk as a reference point with "Far From Heaven". It's a homage of Sirk that isn't reduced to parody unlike the work of, say, Brian DePalma and his Hitchcock obsession. Granted, the film is set in the white picket fence suburban fifties but strip away the beehives and the tailfins there is alot here that can be reflected in contemporary society. Haynes succeeds in using Sirk as a template but distinguishing himself in the process. As daring a director that Sirk was he couldn't fully explore certain themes that Haynes has the luxury of. Where Haynes succeeds best is in his handling of race relations and not just the platonic one between Kathy Whitaker (Julianne Moore) and Raymond Deegan (Dennis Haysbert). Not to diminish the work of Moore and Haysbert because they are excellent here particularly in the heartbreaking final scenes of the movie. Two scenes come to my mind that put the nature of racism under the microscope. One is at a cocktail party congregated by ivory tower liberals who make thoughtless comments oblivious to the sensitivities of the African-American servers. Another is at a swimming pool in Miami Beach where the bathers flee after a young African-American boy unknowingly dangles his feet in the water. I thought Haynes was a little tentative in exploring homosexuality. Dennis Quaid is fine as Frank Whitaker whose not so latent homosexuality comes at the most inopportune time but I just didn't feel the character was as fully developed as he might have been. Otherwise, "Far From Heaven" is one of the best films of recent years and probably of this decade.