All That Heaven Allows Analysis

All That Heaven Allows (1955)

Directed by: Douglas Sirk
Starring: Jane Wyman, Rock Hudson

This is a beautiful film - it's about an upper-class widow who falls in love with a younger man. It's a simple conflict, the woman has to find acceptance from her children and the "society". The philosophical conflict is 'individual vs society' and the worldview is beautifully arrived after a nuanced moral dilemma. The women initially decides to wait till everyone gets used to their relationship, and probably will accept someday and they have a small riff, and she decides to let go of their relationship. She thinks that this would change everybody's lives, she calls her son to tell about this and it doesn't even matter much. Then is when she realizes that her life is utmost a reality drama for others, they'd be interested only when it's exciting and wouldn't care otherwise, and she has to live with it forever. 

I also liked the scene where the kids meet Ron after she tells them, the son is emotional and the daughter tries to talk rationally - there is orchestration in character in spite of them being on the same side of the moral argument. In the scene where the son talks to her about how she could do this being "his father's wife" - it's a well thought out phrase - it says that she isn't as much as a mother, or a woman to his son than she would be the representation of their "legacy". The writing, and the rhythm of the scenes feel contemporary - it didn't feel like I had to let go of certain expectations because it's a film made in the 50s.