After the husband's death, Paul Pullman and her daughter Jesse faced a bad path in her life. She is having a hard time making ends meet together, while Delilah Johnson has agreed to work as a housekeeper in exchange for a place for herself and her daughter Piola. Now, it appears that there are other ramifications and mysterious paths along the way.
Imitation of Life is still a potent onion. When passed before the moviegoer's eyes, it may force theater owners to install aisle scuppers to drain off the tears.
Forget those who decry the '50s Hollywood melodrama; it is through the conventions of that hyper-emotional genre that Sirk is able to make such a devastatingly embittered and pessimistic movie.
This modernized remake of Miss Hurst's frankly lachrymose tale is much the same as its soggy predecessor. It is the most shameless tear-jerker in a couple of years.
EmanuelLevy.Com
June 12, 2005
Douglas Sirk's last Hollywood film is the jewel in his crown, a visually audacious, powerfully acted melodrama, with Lana Turner and Juanita Moore in top form, that was misunderstood and dismissed at the time as just a weepie or soap opera.
