1955 Directed by Douglas Sirk
Two different social classes collide when Cary Scott, a wealthy upper-class widow, falls in love with her much younger and down-to-earth gardener, prompting disapproval and criticism from her children and country club friends.
Jane Wyman Rock Hudson Agnes Moorehead Conrad Nagel Virginia Grey Gloria Talbott William Reynolds Charles Drake Hayden Rorke Jacqueline deWit Leigh Snowden Donald Curtis Alex Gerry Nestor Paiva Forrest Lewis Tol Avery Merry Anders Eleanor Audley Lillian Culver Helen Andrews John Davidson Helen Dickson Donna Jo Gribble Helen Mayon Gia Scala Charles Sherlock Edna Smith Paul Smith Rosa Turich
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i braced myself for disappointment at the start of this vaunted classic i've been dodging for years-- but i needn't have worried. it seems that growing up in soulless white suburbia, reading thoreau as a kid and knowing there was something- anything- beyond the nightmare of bourgeois conformity was just preparing me for this moment. i'm still stunned at how hard it hit me. my parents never understood but sirk did, and long before i was born
"Cary, let's face it: you were ready for a love affair, but not for love."
Lately I've been fascinated with melodrama, in particular the way its priorities differ from the expectations of what we might loosely refer to as a "good film". In general, we seem to want relatable characters in realistic situations which in turn evoke an emotional response; but in melodrama, everything is backwards. As Sidney Lumet once said, "In a well-written drama, the story comes out of the characters. The characters in a well-written melodrama come out of the story." Perhaps this is why the term has come to take on pejorative connotations in recent years: in melodrama, emotion comes first, even if it's at the expense…
![nathaxnne [hiatus]](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/avatar/upload/1/9/5/2/4/3/shard/avtr-0-80-0-80-crop.jpg?k=6516bf4433){kind=small}
I am of course, holding my left cardigan lapel with my right hand across my chest, staring absent-mindedly out the late fall windows the last of the day's light dying in the tops of the trees first and then descending sobbing uncontrollably at what has been lost forever and what shall never be but what is not yet and what is not yet dreamt as the tears fall onto my pleated circle skirt, appliqued there as diamelle constellations thats all made up until its not <3 <3 <3
God, the production design and cinematography, yes, and the withering portrait of repressive values, but sometimes I think that the artistic virtues of Sirk, of which there are many, are stressed as a means of justifying his chosen field of women's pictures, when even on a script level this is such a compelling movie, and so forcefully acted that its subtext, however key to the picture, is still the subtext under a direct swirl of emotions. It's all great, is what I'm saying. Why has it taken me so long to really dig into Sirk?
88
Douglas Sirk captures gossip and high-class pettiness as vicious language destined to tear family units out internally, sizzling in an attempt to fulfill a reorganization of status and force outsiders to succumb to the dominance of social position. Ron's apathy provides a muted tension which only blares - in stunning, succulent color - when Cary's inner circle (both familial/societal) rises to the pitch of an attack, snarling and spitting when their own exterior is affected by a loving couple separated by class. As such, the middle portion of All That Heaven Allows should be seen as a Technicolor Horror, an angry, 'in the moment' response to a genuine romance. Kicker for me is when Ned answers Cary's phone call with a normal demeanor after previously being bathed in blazing red/electric blue light after shunning his mother. Words hurt, but in Sirk's world, they're currency for stature.
when cary’s doctor said “do you expect me to give you a prescription to cure life?” i really felt that
this viewing, i couldn’t help but think of something my mother said to me recently in a moment of stress. “ya know,” she began, “... it’d be really nice if someone would take care of me for a change!”
a film primarily about selfishness and a mother’s inability to put herself first even when she’s perfectly entitled to.
they don’t get much better than this.
MELODRAMA!!!!!!
TECHNICOLOR!!!!!!
I can't wait to watch this again around Christmas time, on a cold snowy night, with a hot cup of coffee, and maybe with some toast as well.
