ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS reviewed by Emily Hill

Cary, a wealthy widow with traditional values, meets Ron, a self-sufficient, neighbourhood gardener. Inspired by Thoreau’s 1854 work Walden, Ron presents an alternative life to Cary’s dinner party-filled, secure and affluent lifestyle. With two adult children and a large house left by her husband, she has the upkeep of her social class, values and expectations to think about. When the pair are set to be married, Cary’s children show selfishness, her friends show snobbery, and she abandons her desires for acceptance, revealing her lack of autonomy. It is here that we start to explore just how far from a “radio daytime serial” ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS is, and just how close it is to a “feminist fiction”.

At the start of the film we hear a tone-setting phrase spoken by Cary’s daughter, a nerdy, Freud-obsessed psychology student: “Widows should no longer be sealed off in their husband’s tomb”. With this, themes of power and surveillance can be navigated through each of the film’s spaces, reflected through Sirk’s use of mirrors, windows and objects. Cary’s reflection is imprisoned in a television set, symbolising a trap for lonely women who have no reason to leave. In contrast, Ron’s home is built by him in the middle of nowhere, and a large, dominating window opens up the home to a desolate outside.

Taking a closer look at Sirk’s oversaturated, Technicolor world, we see a truly dazzling array of bright colours. Warm oranges and reds for passion, love and desire in the autumn season and a daring red dress, with contrasting blues for coldness and loneliness in the winter months, suggesting others on the outside casting judgement. A traditionally American neighbourhood – reminiscent of what David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986) would ironically imitate – parades the screen, almost artificial in style. Sirk’s aesthetic places us in a sickly sweet landscape which easily falls apart if our female protagonist is defiant enough to break it.

For today’s viewers, there are rather abrupt reminders of how attitudes towards marriage, sex and romance have become more liberal, and as a result, how the cultural representations of these ideas have evolved on screen since 1955. What is now most interesting about this film is not whether they will or they won’t, rather, it’s that Cary does not get what she truly wants. ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS is more than a radio drama, but it’s also more than a simple feminist fiction. Cary is only allowed to ‘have it all’ if others let her.