Gripping story with well-crafted characters

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

'All That Heaven Allows' is the first Douglas Sirk film that I have ever seen and it only took me one viewing of this film to see how much of a master technician Sirk was. This film is a social commentary on the fickle nature and the hypocrisy of life in the suburban small towns of post war 1950s America. But Sirk critiques this society not just with the story, but also with his visuals.The film starts with the camera suspended in the air close to the tower clock of the town. Slowly the camera pans sideways to show us this supposedly idealistic version of the perfect American suburban locality. Similar to Joseph L. Mankiewicz's 'A Letter to Three Wives', 'All That Heaven Allows' explores the grim reality of the 'happy' life in post WW2 suburban America. This society is enveloped by a suffocating law of conformity. One is supposed to know his/her role and carry it out accordingly. This film shows the rigid hypocrisy that lied underneath the ideal exterior of this society which made life hell for some people and especially women. Cary, our protagonist is a widow. So she has to accept the fact that she can't have fun anymore and will have to restrict her life to what's on television and somewhat wither away. If she tries to defy these conventions and give love another chance by falling in love with a younger man, she will be on the receiving end of judgement. The way Cary's kids Ned and Kay behave actually adds a layer of complexity to the story. They are also trapped in this rigid, non-liberal society(although Kay thinks otherwise), however they don't feel the need to change. They will approve of it if their mother remarries and the new husband is nothing but a duplicate of their father and stands for everything that he stood for, but they will not accept it if Cary's lover turns out to be a younger, more liberal individual who is different to their father. The character of Ron represents the change that was on the verge of taking place in American society. He is the type of person who would have been called a hippie only about a decade later. What makes this film a masterpiece is the direction of the film and style of storytelling, more than the story. Sirk utilises technicolor in the most artistic way. The film looks vibrant. There are shots that are so beautiful to look at that they can be easily framed and hung on the wall. Sirk uses a harsh blue artificial light in the film to signify the ominous and constant presence of societal judgements and oppression. The blue light keeps appearing in the film to riddle Cary with doubts and hesitations. Red is used as the colour that signifies a sense of happiness and freedom. Sirk plays around with these and other colours quite immensely. This incessant use of vibrant colours can be easily seen as an influence on Rainer Werner Fassbinder's films. His 'Ali:Fear Eats the Soul' is a bit of a tangential remake of 'All That Heaven Allows'. There are also a number of different techniques used in 'All That Heaven Allows' to visually give the impression of characters trapped in a particular frame. Sirk uses the reflective nature of mirrors or the reflection of a character on the limited space of a television screen or in other cases window bars and grills to show characters trapped in a thematic sense in this uptight suffocating societal prison. The precise and meticulous blocking of actors is also used extensively to visually express certain changes in themes or tones.Jane Wyman gives a performance which is layered and complex. She uses her facial expressions a lot to signify a change in her mood. It is not possible for the viewer to not care for her and her plight. Rock Hudson exudes masculine charm and appeal. He is handsome, charismatic and has a commanding gentlemanly presence which makes it quite believable that Cary will be smitten by Hudson's character Ron and want to be with him.Yes an argument can be made that certain convenient adjustments are made in the screenplay to arrive at an ending which would have been acceptable for the audience of the time, but personally I didn't have a problem with these adjustments because of the way Sirk kept using artistic visual flair to execute them. This is genuinely a masterpiece rich with feelings, emotions, social commentary and visual artistry. An absolute must-watch.

Douglas Sirk's All That Heaven Allows is a very well done romantic movie that tells the story about a woman named Cary (played by Jane Wyman) who falls in love with a much younger man named Ron Kirby (played by Rock Hudson) with a chorus of disapproval by her friends, as well as her children because they don't think it is right to move away from a house that they have lived in for many years, mainly because of their age difference. The movie in my opinion is one of the best romance movies ever made, especially the performances by Wyman and Hudson are very convincing. Sirk really does know how to execute a wonderful romance movie like this one but it is certainly not the best to put it that way.The movie also features an excellent supporting cast which includes Agnes Moorehead as Cary's best friend Sara who is very skeptical about the marriage at first but then says it is up to Cary to decide for herself, Gloria Talbot and William Reynolds as Cary's two children who disapprove of the marriage the most even more than Cary's peers combined. But in the end it is till a great movie that should be watched, treasured, and never forgotten by all movie lovers.

he is the star of movie. for the precise science of detail. for the exploration and define of beauty. for the charming air, delicacy of drama, inspired cast and final feeling. a film who seduce. and that is not a really surprise because it represents only slice from Sirk's magic. that is the floor for the good job of Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson, the splendid role of Agnes Moorehead and for the lovely last scene.sure, an old sentimental film has its status but something does each Sirk movie a rare enjoy for a large window, for a fresh emotion, for old fashion manners, for the art to surprise a hided memory of viewer. or, maybe, for an important ingredient who seems be honesty.

Director Douglas Sirk takes a story by the obscure writing team of Edna and Harry Lee, puts it together with two big stars in Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson, and emerges with a first-rate critique of the class prejudices and soul-crushing expectations in Country Club America. There aren't many surprises along the way, really, but the thing doesn't just sit there either.... if we, the audience, are allowed to come up for air, then we would lose some of our identification with the superficially "unimportant" tribulations of the heroine, Cary (Wyman). As for Hudson's character (Ron), he doesn't just read, but lives, Thoreau... yes, a character in the movie actually says that. Let's not pretend the movie is any more subtle than any of Sirk's other work.We could pick it apart for all its "unreality", but in my opinion the film was never designed to be real. It's a sort of expressionist take on American culture, one which Sirk would follow up with even more broad strokes on the subject in following years. I do think that the film's discussion on class division would have more weight if, for example, Ron's supposedly rustic hideaway didn't look like something out of Woman's Home Companion's winter guidebook. The Ron Kirby character is a bit too far out of the realm of reality, perhaps because his persona had to be twisted in such a way to make him totally acceptable to the types of people in the audience who might, in their day to day lives, represent the characters in the film who reject him on social grounds. So, it's all very harmless, and when we meet Ron's working class friends they come complete with the friendly Greek fisherman, bird-watching old lady, etc. One wonders what the effect would have been, for example, if one of Marlon Brando's early 50s characters had walked through the door.But again, let's never mind "reality", and let Sirk have his own little pretensions. My main real criticism along those lines is that the film did not show any kind of social pressure coming from Ron's friends against his settling with Cary. Indeed, Ron's best friends (played by Virginia Grey and William Reynolds) are practically gurus of philosophy and tolerance. In actuality, it is not just the rich who perpetuate class division in America. Not to mention, the fact that she was obviously approaching 40 and already had children would have made her an unacceptable wife to many of his young friends, or so we might imagine. The film steers clear of any such criticism and as a result it's take on class (and age-ism) in America is lop-sided.The most cunning and memorable shot in the film is, of course, the one with the TV set turned into a mirror of Cary's loneliness, after she has succumbed to social/family pressure and ended her relationship with Ron. It deserves praise, but Sirk does not just fashion memorable images, but convincing scenes: often, from the most conventional and predictable situations. For example, the big party thrown by Cary's friend Sara (a fire-redhead Agnes Moorehead) -- everything about the scene is already known to the audience; we've seen it in a dozen films. What makes this one memorable is the depth of sleaze to which Donald Curtis' character descends, and his drunken self-conviction. Cary was a tramp all along, he figures, and it's his male prerogative to assume that he can now take her whenever he pleases. As Ron and Cary leave, we hear a voice from amongst the crowd telling us that poor Harvey (Curtis) was fortunate to survive an encounter with such a beast as Ron! It's a better film than it deserves to be, and credit can go to a very solid cast being directed with purpose and intelligence by Sirk.