[Film Review] All That Heaven Allows (1955) 8.4/10

German 2022-01-18 08:01:22

An auteur maudit of his time, German émigré Douglas Sirk's renown has been considerably reappraised with much admiration for his trademark disposition of light and color, the swelling watchability sublimated from its saccharine source material, aka. the often derogated melodrama, and affecting emotional flux elicited from his sharply tricked-out players (Rock Hudson is among the staple).

Sirk's second Wyman-Hudson vehicle, ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS, is a lean, Technicolor-fueled, frippery-free, love-overcoming-moral-prejudice romantic drama, a middle-class suburban widow Cary Scott (Wyman) gallantly accepts the marriage proposal from her much younger boyfriend Ron Kirby (Hudson), who is hailed from a different class bracket and has no ambition in pursuing affluence. What transpires in the wake of her decision trenchantly discloses the selfishness, snobbery, myopia and hypocrisy inherently pertaining to the objectionable mindset of small-town bourgeoisie. On paper, the story sounds platitudinous, but Sirk's wow factor is, as always, his divine composition of the palette and setting, everything is undergone through a minutely preparatory process, from the impeccable cosmetic furnishing and elegant garbs of itsdramatis personae , to its almost storybook environs, however, to counterpoise the richness on one's eyes, Sirk is quite self-aware of not overreaching himself, ergo , the plot pans out in a reductive but expressively accurate manner, sansd evious routes, to sustain a vigorous lifeline that magically keeps a spectator rapt.

It goes without saying this approach often lives and dies with the performers, and in this case, it totally hits the bull-eye. Jane Wyman is a screen paragon who can yoke unperturbed grace with understated determination in a pinch, and step by step, Cary's liberation from those fetters chained to a lonesome widow is limned through her pitch-perfect, layered felicity that it hits every right spot to accompany a viewer's mirrored, visceral journey. Rock Hudson, a quintessential specimen of American masculinity and good looks, aptly elicits Ron's larger-than-life symbol of perfection but at the same time, conveys his vulnerability and misery with pinpricks of impatience and disappointment, which injects a more personal note to the character.

As regards the peripheral roles, Gloria Talbott and William Reynolds, who play Cary's college-age children, both stoutly take it to themselves as the cardinal negative force impeding their mother's new romance, with the former's talk-the-talk, walk-the-walk turnabout and the latter's sheer self-seeking callousness, god bless our offspring. But one's heart easily goes with a solicitous Agnes Moorehead, who is always a pleasant sight as Cary's matter-of-fact confidant and an effulgent Virginia Grey, radiating warmth even if she is not necessarily needed to do so.

Lastly, the purportedly compromised ending, stank with the inimical Catholic precept that one must suffer (both physically and mentally) plenty before finally gaining the reward, comes off as a fly in the ointment to wring a quasi-tearjerking effect, nonetheless, as vouched by Liszt's timelessly enchanting Consolation No. 3 in the beginning, ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS oozes a vintage vitality in its most luscious taste, isn't that a delight?

referential films: Sirk's MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION (1954, 7.1/10), WRITTEN ON THE WIND (1956, 8.0/10); Rainer Werner Fassbinder's ALI: FEAR EATS THE SOUL (1974, 8.7/10); Todd Haynes FAR FROM HEAVEN (2002 , 9.2/10).

View more about All That Heaven Allows reviews

Extended Reading
  • Jeffry 2022-03-16 09:01:06

    Qiongyao's drama-style story is so delicate and moving. Douglas Seck knows how to control the rhythm, the contradictions of different classes, the contradictions of values ​​and love, the entanglements and transitions of the characters' hearts, every scene is thoughtful. I like the color of the video~

  • Dennis 2022-04-23 07:03:54

    Now this kind of story can only be filmed as a drama. The early movies were too energetic, and the genre tried to let a hundred flowers bloom. It is really the originator of Qiong Yao drama Korean drama, the taboo love that is not recognized by the community and relatives - "mother and child" love, middle-class widow and Son of a gardener. Times have changed, and many plots have become too conventional, but the classic status of female emotional films can still be seen. The relationship between the characters in the line of Liu Yuling in "Deadly Woman" is obviously borrowed from this - the inheritance of Hollywood genre films; Uncle An wrote "Food and Drink" Men and women" must be included in the genre film research. The most classic is not the love between the male and female protagonists breaking through the world, but the selfishness of the children. The mother gave up love for her children. In turn, her son became a soldier and her daughter got married and left home one after another. The house sold - what should have been a family-friendly Christmas was full of chills. The son wants to use a TV as a Christmas present for his mother (a metaphor of mental prison) instead of a living man. It is too cruel and ironic. This scene deserves five stars. Uncle An, in turn, asked his father to leave home and find a new love, and the second daughter took on the task of keeping the house in the end, expressing Chinese-style filial piety. Variations of gender, era, and culture, wonderful

All That Heaven Allows quotes

  • Ned Scott: Holy cat's mother!

  • Mick Anderson: She doesn't want to make up her own mind; no girl does. She wants you to make it up for her.