All That Heaven Allows

Douglas Sirk as a filmmaker is a master. His colors, tones, direction, staging, is all flawless. His stories are daring too, soaked in sap, but so wonderfully handled, that such a thing can be embraced. ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS burrows into the culture of the 1950's, and of a widow living alone who falls in love with her gardener. Cary (Jane Wyman), the widow, is well-off, sees her over-schooled children almost every weekend, and only has to deal with the snide remarks of a cruel neighbor. She's a member of a higher class, but that position is broken after the death of her husband. Instead, she has to look out for herself, and that's not popular at the tea parties. Unhappy with a myriad of suitors, Cary finds her gardener to be most alluring. Ron (Rock Hudson), the gardener, is a sort of pure environmentalist. He has a friend who reads Walden every day, but he's never read it because to read it would be to be ordered by Thoreau. Ron's a man of that tradition though, he thinks purely for himself, and has little influences. He becomes enamored with Cary, and they end up falling in love: Cary swept off her feet and into a woodside cabin. She becomes afraid of how everything will look to the public, and Sirk handles the middle section of the film as a social commentary on the wrongheadedness of judging high class members. In resolution though, Cary makes many failures, and then rectifies them. This is the boldest part of the film to first admit that Cary could make such failures, but has the power to rectify them. This is so much more worthwhile than tales that paint the woman as infallible, for isn't that just as myth-like? Sirk's film is beautiful and vast.
All That Heaven Allows: ★★★★