All That Heaven Allows

All That Heaven Allows is a melodramatic film released in 1955 that focuses on the taboo relationship blooming between Cary Scott and Ron Kirby. As a wealthier older woman, it is socially unacceptable for Cary to marry a man like Ron: a young tradesman. However, the relationship still blossoms despite the never-ending social critique given by both her children and her friends at the country club. Her friend Sarah even suggests that town gossip would have people rumoring that Cary started an affair with Ron while she was still married to her husband. As a result, social criticism became the demise of their relationship and can be further explained in Melodrama: Genre, Style, Sensibility. John Mercer and Martin Shingler explain that, "The film can firstly be regarded as a subversive social critique of suburban American attitudes and prejudices" (61) and "In Sirk's films we see characters looking in mirrors when they are conforming to society's rules, when they are playing a role, when they are deluding themselves" (54). Cary has had countless screen time where close-ups displayed her dramatically staring in any reflective surface and it is at this point where she contemplates whether she should follow societal norms or pursue her happiness. Sirk's style of melodrama is exemplified through this particular technique where the emotion of the character is pretty evident. In the end, Cary realizes that all her sacrifices were for nothing seeing as Ned was moving away and was considering selling the house while Kay was engaged to be married. The arguments that her children made against the marriage between their mother and Ron were justified by their means but now that they were doing the complete opposite of what they initially wanted, they left their mother heartbroken and lonelier than ever. The movie shares the theme that social criticism can and will rule one's world if they let it.