Judith Fox – Google

I appreciate where she started, in a pre enlightened society as to a woman’s place in her workplace or her sexuality, I am her contemporary. She succeeded on both fronts, however, not every life experience or travail, poignant, humorous or erotic, makes a book. In the end, she has a relationship that does work-and I applaud her. But as her wife pointed out when asked if she’d read this book: “I know the result. I don’t need to know the recipe.” Neither did I, unfortunately.

Well written, however, she gets caught in the weeds, I think, talking about her career. A lot of self congratulatory info as to how dedicated and thorough she was at her job. Endless quotes about how well she is doing her job which might be important if you must consider the negative reactions she was likely to get from the loyal Trumpsters. Also, all of this time she couldn’t see her heroes, Trump, Meadows, McCarthy, among others, had clay feet? She claimed to be a moderate conservative. Why didn’t their antics bother her more? After all, she was only “ten seconds away from the Oval,” and in the loop. She saw and she heard. One answer might be in Section I “Grow,” where she talks about her father, a bombastic, loud, unstable man. Who else might she be describing? Donald J. Trump. In both cases, Cassidy craved their approval and never really got it-permanently. But she was a hero. No doubt about it. Not easy to walk away from that kind of power, but she did for the sake of the country. And for that, we should be grateful.

Beautifully acted and photographed, and it reflected a time when women who love women were very much in the closet. And if you came out, there were consequences. The love/sex scene, however, was almost devoid of intimacy and passion. You can tell it was directed by a man. One only has to watch Donna Deitch’s “Desert Hearts,” (1985) to understand the difference. All four of the actors in “Desert Hearts” and “Carol” were straight so there was a fair amount of acting required. What was needed was something only a woman, a lesbian could know and provide. It was missing in “Carol.”