Todd Haynes has a habit of making films that slalom tonally; from the lustrous and romantic to the lethally funny, with dashes of darkness in between. An unpredictable talent, his origins as a pivotal queer filmmaker in the 90s — established with his 1991 film Poison — has bled into all of his films: often about sidelined, psychopathic or misunderstood characters, most of them women.
Today he’s known best for his collaborations with Julianne Moore (they’ve worked together five times), transforming Cate Blanchett into a canonical lesbian star in 2015’s masterpiece Carol, and for tickling the boundaries of questionable humour, evidenced in his latest film, May December, about an actress shadowing a female sex offender in preparation for a new movie role.
His work may be somewhat singular, but all auteurs have artists and movies they love. So if you’ve exhausted your Todd-tinged watchlist, or are merely curious, these are 10 films that have inspired Todd Haynes’ best work.
The Pumpkin Eater (1964)
This 60s domestic drama, based on Penelope Mortimer’s famous novel, sees Anne Bancroft play a housewife who, three marriages and five children deep, soon discovers her latest lover has been cheating on her, sending her into a spiral. Todd has namechecked this film a few times, first using its interiors as a reference for Carol and then asking Charles Melton to watch it in preparation for May December, in which his character plays a child sex abuse survivor who marries the woman who abused him.
Mary Poppins (1964)
The Walt Disney classic about a magical nanny swooping in to care for the children of an evasive and stern banker enchanted Todd Haynes as a child, and played a pivotal part in his decision to become a filmmaker. Speaking to the New Yorker, Todd said that when he saw the film, he has a “fanatical, creative, obsession response where I had to replicate the experience”. It became his whole personality, he said, adding: “I could feel my parents behind me, worrying about what this might mean, or worrying whether they should be worried, and I always felt defiant of their concerns.”
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
Recently crowned the Best Film of All Time by the famous Sight and Sound critics poll, Chantal Akerman’s portrait of a woman becoming a sex worker to make money for her son is now a cult classic. Clocking in a few minutes shy of three-and-a-half hours long, Todd apparently lent on the film as a creative crutch during the making of Safe, his film about an ill woman on the verge of a breakdown.
Masculin Feminin (1966)
Rooted in the pop culture of the era, Jean-Luc Godard’s Masculin Feminin about a dewy-eyed young man falling for a fledgling popstar, and then embarking on a complex sexual affair with the popstar’s roommates too. Todd was a die hard Godard-head, fascinated by the way he framed women. In this film, which explicitly references Bob Dylan, he found aesthetic inspiration for his own Bob Dylan movie I’m Not There.
Brief Encounter (1945)
David Lean’s deeply romantic classic provided inspiration for Todd in the crafting of his visual and sonic language for Carol which, with its 16mm cinematography captures the hazy rising steam from the grates of the city, and the rumbling sound of the subway cars below. The films also share a narrative device: opening with a scene that, ultimately, we learn is the film’s emotional crescendo. Speaking to Little White Lies, Todd called it “a seminal point of reference” for Carol.
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)
This Rainer Maria Fassbinder masterpiece is about a German cleaner in her 60s facing social rejection after she falls in love with a Moroccan man nearly half her age. Todd has often expressed his love for Fassbinder’s work, but it’s perhaps the most direct it’s ever been here: Ali: Fear Eats the Soul is a spiritual remake of Douglas Sirk’s All That Heaven Allows, which also provided the framework for Todd’s Julianne Moore-starring Far From Heaven.
Performance (1970)
This X-rated movie from Nicolas Roeg stars Mick Jagger in a meta-part: as a rockstar whose home becomes a refuge for a gangster on the run. Originally met with middling reviews, the film has gained a new reputation recently. In 2021, Todd directed a documentary about The Velvet Underground, and mentioned Performance in his inspirations. He called it “a riveting dive into masculinity and sexuality” in an Apple post.
Nashville (1975)
Considered a freewheeling marvel in the Robert Altman movie catalogue, this movie musical is known for its insane scope: two-hours-and-40-mins long, an hour of musical numbers, and the sheer size of its cast of 24 pivotal characters. Set in the immediate aftermath of Watergate, it’s a story of the country scene, of love and sex in the midst of turmoil. Todd, a big fan of it, told Apple it was a “miracle of a film”.
Imitation of Life (1959)
Douglas Sirk — one of Todd’s favourite directors — made his final film in Hollywood in 1959: Imitation of Life. It follows a white actress who, in the early days of her career, takes in a widowed Black women and her mixed-raced daughter. When her career takes off, the dynamic of their relationship changes. Like All That Heaven Allows, Imitation of Life is another Douglas Sirk film Todd dwelled upon in the making of Far From Heaven.
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)
This poppy and extravagantly campy classic spoofs its original rather than acting as a true successor to it. In it, a girl group gathers for a night-out in Hollywood that soon descends into a drug and sex-fuelled trip. Over the top and critically contentious, Todd Haynes paid homage to it in his riotous 1993 short, Dottie Gets Spanked.