Jane Wyman gives a winsome and luminous performance in this achingly beautiful Douglas Sirk weepie.
Wyman plays a dutiful 1950s widow, going through the motions in a straight-laced, stifling suburb. Her children are college age and live away from home; her life has settled into a boring routine. She falls for gardener Rock Hudson, who not only is younger than her but also is (GASP!) poorer. Marriage to him would mean facing the harsh criticism of the snobbish New England society to which she belongs -- even her children oppose the match. But Wyman's character harbors a strong-willed spirit which bristles at the conventions forced upon her.
If this premise sounds familiar, it should -- Todd Haynes borrowed it for his homage to Sirk's melodramas, "Far From Heaven" (2002). In that film, he reexamined Sirk's critique of mainstream upper middle class America and the banality forced upon anyone who wishes to belong to that class. Haynes's film is edgier than Sirk's -- a more liberated culture allowed him to explore racism and homophobia in addition to class barriers. But Sirk's film is no less powerful or devastating despite the limitations placed upon it.
In my mind, Sirk held a unique place among film directors. He made art out of pure melodrama, something not many could do. The same stories filmed by other directors would be easy to dismiss as cornball entertainment -- but it's not so easy to dismiss Sirk. He attacked conventions that at the time were taken for granted as being desirable for anyone wanting to live the American dream; but his attacks, if not his films, were subtle, and he made his movies for the very audience at whom he was aiming his criticism.
No other Sirk film matches "All That Heaven Allows" for sheer craftsmanship, not even the wildly feverish "Written on the Wind," released a year later. And Jane Wyman was a perfect Sirk heroine; she was able to deftly navigate the cornball elements and create a character who you both believe in and care deeply for.
Grade: A+
Wyman plays a dutiful 1950s widow, going through the motions in a straight-laced, stifling suburb. Her children are college age and live away from home; her life has settled into a boring routine. She falls for gardener Rock Hudson, who not only is younger than her but also is (GASP!) poorer. Marriage to him would mean facing the harsh criticism of the snobbish New England society to which she belongs -- even her children oppose the match. But Wyman's character harbors a strong-willed spirit which bristles at the conventions forced upon her.
If this premise sounds familiar, it should -- Todd Haynes borrowed it for his homage to Sirk's melodramas, "Far From Heaven" (2002). In that film, he reexamined Sirk's critique of mainstream upper middle class America and the banality forced upon anyone who wishes to belong to that class. Haynes's film is edgier than Sirk's -- a more liberated culture allowed him to explore racism and homophobia in addition to class barriers. But Sirk's film is no less powerful or devastating despite the limitations placed upon it.
In my mind, Sirk held a unique place among film directors. He made art out of pure melodrama, something not many could do. The same stories filmed by other directors would be easy to dismiss as cornball entertainment -- but it's not so easy to dismiss Sirk. He attacked conventions that at the time were taken for granted as being desirable for anyone wanting to live the American dream; but his attacks, if not his films, were subtle, and he made his movies for the very audience at whom he was aiming his criticism.
No other Sirk film matches "All That Heaven Allows" for sheer craftsmanship, not even the wildly feverish "Written on the Wind," released a year later. And Jane Wyman was a perfect Sirk heroine; she was able to deftly navigate the cornball elements and create a character who you both believe in and care deeply for.
Grade: A+