Customer Reviews

Imitation of Life

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4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have to say that I prefer this version to the 1934 Claudette Colbert film. Not only is it beautifully and lushly photographed, but all the performances are outstanding, as is the music.

The story of a struggling widow and aspiring actress trying to raise her young daughter, and the black woman she befriends and the two become close as the years pass and their daughters' problems begin to surface. Lana Turner, as Lora Meredith, is radiant and plays the mixture of glamorous star and a mother trying to be the best she can be, but only complicates matters further by her ambition and work. Juanita Moore is heart-breaking as Annie Johnson, a devoted friend and loving mother whose heart is shattered when her frustrated, hurt and rebellious daughter, Sarah Jane (portrayed by the sultry and splendid Susan Kohner) discovers that her light-colored skin makes it easy for her to pass for white. The late, always lovely and perky Sandra Dee plays Lora's daughter Susie, who is longing for her mother's love and attention. And John Gavin as Lora's on-again, off-again suitor Steve Archer gives a strong, gentle and compassionate performance.

The drama is wonderfully and sensitively presented: this was a time when the issue of racial inequality was a very real one, and many black or people of mixed race did pass for white, because they were ashamed of their background and wanted to fit in. Sarah Jane's attempts at this, which leads, among other things, to a relationship with Frankie (Troy Donahue, playing against type, in a brief but riveting scene), who beats her almost to a pulp when he discovers the truth. After that, she is constantly out searching for another way to escape her mother, her race, and herself. She feels inadequate compared to Susie, who appears to have all the advantages, and to Lora, who is successful and surrounded by the beautiful people. Her poor, ill mother is brought to despair, and finally makes the painful decision to let her daughter go. The scene in the hotel room had me weeping. Sarah Jane stares into the mirror, starting softly but repeats into a painful yell, "I'm white. White. WHITE!!!!!" When mother and daughter bid each other that heart-wrenching goodbye it was almost too much to bear. No wonder they were both Oscar-nominated!!!!! Turner is beautiful, and her realization that her daughter is in love with Steve, whom she is romantically involved with and is planning to marry, really throws her for a loop. When she comes to talk it out with Susie, this is when we see the anguish voiced, and we see Sandra Dee really come to life. Anyone who doubts her acting talent should see this movie. The argument starts out with her being angry and resentful, but then it culminates to her pain and sadness over her mother's neglect. (One can't help but compare the scene to Turner's troubled relationship with her own daughter, Cheryl). Susie calls her mother on "playing the martyr" and she confides in her mother that she wants some independence. Tears stream down her equisite, doll-like face.

The climax, with the death of Annie, the grief that follows at her funeral lead by the marvelous Mahalia Jackson, and the poignant, tear-jerking return of Sarah Jane just sums this movie up. It gets me every time. It is now available on DVD, sometimes as a set with the 1934 version. Have fun comparing, but for both, Kleenex is mandatory!!!

In 1959, Susan Kohner and Juanita Moore lost the Best Supporting Actress oscar to Shelley Winters for "Diary of Anne Frank." While Winters certainly was a seasoned and excellent actress, I don't see how one can overlook Susan and Juanita's gutwrenching performances. In spite of the star presence of Lana Turner and John Gavin, this movie's heart lies in the story of Annie and her mulatto daughter, Sarah Jane.
Director Douglas Sirk and his glamorized movies was the inspiration for the much acclaimed film, "Far from Heaven." One can see why Todd Hayes wanted to venture into this director's turf. Ross Hunter's glitzy production begged for its audience to become embroiled in Lana's problems becoming a big actress. But with the performances of Ms. Moore and Kohner, IMITATION OF LIFE achieves the status of one of our finest tearjerkers. Sadly enough, neither actress had much of a career after this, and what a shame. Their scenes together are so electric and heartwrenching, they deserved more. The final portion of the film wherein we lose Ms. Moore and her subsequent funeral are the stuff of Kleenex heaven.
Definitely one of the finest remakes of our time. Because of Juanita Moore and Susan Kohner!!!

The struggles of two mothers with very different problems are detailed in this glossy but overly sentimental film. Lora Meredith and Annie Johnson establish a friendship purely by accident but they forge a bond that brings them together for life. Lora eventually finds stardom on the stage after many setbacks and disappointments but Annie has the impossible task of trying to make her mulatto daughter accept her racial heritage. Sarah Jane's shame at having a black mother is the main theme of the film while Lora's ups and downs on Broadway and eventual career success provide a counterpoint to the troubling themes of self-loathing and racial intolerance. Sarah Jane's relationship with Lora's daughter Susie is by turns sisterly and contentious because of Sarah Jane's jealousy and resentment towards Susie because she is white. Another sub-plot is Lora's relationship with Steve Archer, which also spans many years. Their romance always takes a back seat to Lora's stage career ambitions, which frustrates her handsome suitor immensely. Steve eventually becomes the object of Susie's affections as she grows into womanhood and her obsession with Steve causes problems later on. The film's famous last reel is touching and has the added effect of having Mahalia Jackson sing spirituals for the beloved Annie. Lana Turner is very beautiful and glamorous in this film and was never lovelier, but Juanita Moore's tortured Annie and Susan Kohner's ungrateful, mean-spirited Sarah Jane are the reasons for which this film is remembered.

Douglas Sirk's 1959 remake of John Stahl's 1934 film, Imitation of Life, is a parody of the original. In a comical rendition, Imitation of Life, addresses intersections of race, social and economic class, and gender in the film, as well as existing stereotypes, through the use of Neo-Brechtian gestik acting which means over-the-top, melodramatic and campy acting that is quoting a character and his/her emotions and exaggerates the role of a character in a situation. Sirk deliberately wanted to use gestik acting and avoided method acting (acting out what your emotions would really be, if you were in a certain situation) because he didn't want audiences to think that this film was real and to be taken seriously.
Two single-parenting mothers, Annie and Lora meet on the beach of Coney Island, in search of Lora's daughter Suzie. When Lora and Suzie find out that Annie and her daughter Sara Jane are homeless, Lora decides to let them live in her apartment as long as Annie agrees to contribute some help around the house, and do the dirty work for Lora. Annie is depicted as a parody for blackness, just because she has typical attributes of any nanny. A loving, nurturing, understanding, and caring mother is the stereotypical mother that society adores which is played out by Annie. On the other hand Lora is a neglecting figure in the eyes of Suzie. Annie is more like the mother for Suzie, but not Sara Jane. Sara Jane refuses to admit that she a daughter to a black woman and passes as a white girl while in school. Sara Jane fires up the racial tension in this film because of her denial and mistreatment towards her mother.
Lora meets a man named Steve, who almost right away, proposes to her. She denies the proposal in an effort to pursue her dream of becoming a Hollywood actress. Steve tries to make her stay, by telling her that she doesn't have to work, and that he will bring home to money. This shows us how Steve along with the majority of society view women and their roles of life. A women's life should be to stay home, clean, take care of the kids, and put dinner on the table, which is the old fashion way that much of male Americans viewed women to perform in. Opposite roles of gender for the male figure in this film was shown through Steve, who has found a detective out of now where, who has found Sara Jane and her place of refuge from her mother. This situation renders Steve as if he were Superman, the one being able to fix any problem.
This campy imitation of life is viewed throughout most of the film, except for the scene of Annie's funeral, where Mahalia Jackson sings a gospel song. Eulogy of Annie is brought to her through the singing voice of Mahalia. This scene is supposed to be a serious one among the other witty scenes, because the character of Mahalia is the only realistic one in this film and is not to be criticized. Mahalia does not exemplify the overly dramatic acting.

Imitation of Life, a 1959 Film by director Douglas Sirk, is a commentary on the relationship between African Americans and Caucasians, as well as the role of women in society.
Lana Turner is a single white mother of Susie who is attempting to establish herself as an actress and agrees to house Annie, a single black mother, and her daughter Sarah Jane.
The intersection of race, class and gender are deceptively obvious in the film. Lana, white and Annie, black serve as focal characters in Sirk's social commentary. The white female Lana betrays her role as mother by acquiring a career, and although this outwardly seems progressive, her career is as an actress. This commodifies Lana, making her the object of vision for consumption. Thus Lana remains in a role acceptable to the patriarchal society. Annie, the black female, is created to be the stereotypical motherly homemaker. Not only does she accede to the racism that keeps her in an "appropriate" role (subversive to Lana as her maid), she encourages her daughter Sarah Jane, who is able to "pass" for white, to embrace her African heritage and all of the racism she will experience for it. This encourages the audience to sympathize with Annie, who has to deal with a rebellious daughter, and further conforms to the demands of white patriarchy by portraying the person attempting to break free from the chains that limit her as the villian. Annie, like Lana is acceptable to the patriarchy because she stays at home and cares for the house and children. Lana eventually becomes a rich, successful actress and while her daughter Susie is applying to colleges, Annie's daughter Sarah Jane is a dancer in a burlesque show. This has the apparent underlying message that only whites can overcome low-class situations and blacks are doomed to lower-class stature and were it not popularly known that Sirk's film is a parody, one might come to the conclusion that Sirk was aiding and abetting the racist undertones of American culture. However, over-the-top acting aides in shocking a critical analysis out of the viewer. Steve, the white male courting Lana, is the voice of "reason" in the movie and thus the patriarchy's representative. Whenever a problem arises, Steve is there to solve it, whether or not the means are plausible or realistic. Although Lana is out of the home and making a living, she needs Steve for support, as do the other females in the film. In the end of the film, after the reunion of Sarah Jane with Lana and Susie, Steve is there to look upon the scene and approve of it.
These features of the film are meant to allow the viewer to realize and expose the underlying messages that they consume on film and television daily.

This movie starts off with a woman named Lora Meredith (Lana Turner), a struggling
widow and aspiring actress with a young daughter named Susie. Buy chance she meets
Annie Johnson (Juanita Moore), also a struggling widow and her daughter Sarah Jane.
Lora employs Annie as a 'housekeeper" which provides Lora enough time to pursue her
dreams and this gives Annie and Sarah Jane a more permeant home. . Lora goes out and
follows her dreams while Annie, takes care of the home and provides a regular home
life for Susie and Sarah Jane.

After some time, Lora becomes a star on Broadway. Along the way, she acquires a love
interest in a man named Steve (John Gavin), who met Lora earlier in the movie and he
was an aspirering artist with dreams of his own. Once Lora has enough money coming
in, Annie, Susie, and Sarah Jane all move to a large house in the country.

Annie still continues to take care of Susie (Sandra Dee) and Sarah Jane (Susan
Koehner) as they grow up into young women. Throughout the movie, you begin to see
the different relationships that develop between the two mother and two daughters.
Sarah Jane dislikes her mother and constantly tries to act like she is white (due to
the fact that she is very light skinned). However, she looks up to Lora because she
is a successful white woman, which is what Sarah Jane wants to be. Susie on the
other hand, drifts further and further from her mother, because Lora is always away
shooting a movie or on tour with a play. She looks up to Annie because Annie was
around the house more than Susie's mother was. This was an excellent film which
showed some of the hardships that were encountered by African-American, mothers and
daughters, and people who were chasing a dream.

This film somewhat critiques existing stereotypes. Earlier in the movie, Steve
proposed to Lora. She refused, breaking the stereotype that woman are dependent on
men. However, at the end, when the three women are in the funeral car, even though
the women are fine, a shot-reverse-shot is used to show Steve legitimizes the fact
that the women are ok. The film also represents intersections of race, social &
economic class, and gender. For example, in the household there were two lower class
African-American women and two lower-middle class Caucasian women, but they were all
viewed as equals by each other, with the exception of Sarah-Jane (she viewed her
mother as subservient to Lora). Steve (a Caucasian, middle-class male) was also
sometimes a member of the house, and he also saw everyone as equals.

In 1959, Universal couldn't have been happy when Douglas Sirk's last film was released, becoming one of the studios' largest money makers. Imitation of Life, a beautifully shot and nearly perfect aesthetically, isn't merely just another 1950s tear jerking melodrama with pretty actors and love affairs. Its roots run deep with social commentary. Sirk targeted relationships, stereotypes, and racial discrimination.
The film's narrative surrounds the relationships of four women; two mothers and two daughters. The two mothers are Lora Meredith, played by Lana Turner, and Annie Johnson, played by Juanita Moore. Lora, a white woman with a daughter named Susie, is an actress who is able to sky rocket her fame to Broadway and eventually Hollywood. Sirk portrays this character as a parody of herself. Lora is very melodramatic, almost achieving soap opera status. She is a "typical" movie star. She neglects her daughter for her career and materials. Annie, on the other hand, a black woman with a light skinned daughter named Sarah Jane, is a loyal, hardworking, and very ethnic character. Annie is portrayed as a completely different stereotype than Lora. Annie is also a step down in the social ladder below Lora clearly because of her race. Then there is Sarah Jane. Sarah Jane, who is played by Susan Kohner, is Annie's light skinned daughter, and who resents Annie because of her heritage. Sarah Jane tries to pass herself as a white woman to avoid the racism and prejudices present in the 1950s. Sarah Jane, like Lora, turns to show business, but in the mask of a white identity. Unlike Lora, she performs in seedy bars, dives, and lounges; success seems unreachable to her. This is a very interesting part of the film because Sirk objectifies Sarah Jane in a similar fashion to how he objectified Lora earlier in this work; in flashy colors and limb dominated shots.
Imitation of Life is a film that explores and exploits relationships and stereotypes quite well. It is an interesting film with interesting subject matter. It is intriguing how audiences survey these female characters in the film according to how Douglas Sirk presented them. This film is a must see for its salty comments on 1950s society and its "ultra-dramatic" treatment.

In 1959 Douglass Sirk directed a parody of the 1934 film, Imitation of Life, and that is truly what it was. By playing on issues in our society such as race, gender, class, and mother-daughter relationships, Imitation provides a unique and comical illustration of society and the stereotypes that exist.

Annie and Lora are two widowed single mothers who meet at the beach when Lora's daughter Suzie is missing. The women decide that Annie and her daughter Sara Jane will live with Lora and Suzie. Lora is white and Annie is black. In somewhat of a fake manner, using Gestik acting that quotes an emotion or character, the film presents the intersection of the two women's race, class, and gender.

Although Lora makes Annie feel comfortable in her home, there is no escaping the fact that she is of a lower social position. This is presented when Lora says "Have we ever treated you differently?" Sirk uses height, such as staircases, or chairs to play on these social positions. Additionally, after living together for ten years, Annie still addresses Lora as "Miss Lora." Essentially, Annie parodys blackness, and her daughter Sara Jane is struggling with this. Sara Jane resents the fact that her mother is black. She is light skinned and passes as a white girl, enjoying the privileges that her mother never did. Sara Jane is primarily the source of racial tension in this film, bringing up the issues of race that had never before been spoken of. She wants to escape her mother's heritage and their racist society, and be treated the same way as Suzie and Lora.

Lora Meredith seems in many ways to represent Barbie. "Barbie is white, blond, slim, sexy, attractive, and a conspicuous consumer" (Pasoonen). Sirk's presentation of her heterosexual femininity is obvious throughout the film in her encounters with Steve, the clothes she wears, the cigarettes she smokes, her hairstyles, and her behavior. Much like Barbie, Lora is an "icon of successful womanhood" (Pasoonen). As a middle aged-single mother, she uses her good looks and her talent to become a successful actress and make her way to the top of the social scale. In her conquest for fame, Lora neglects her daughter Suzie, introducing once again the issue of mother-daughter relationships in this film. Just as Sara Jane wishes to have Lora as her white mother, Suzie yearns for a mother as affectionate and caring as Annie. Throughout the film Lora is away pursuing her career while Annie cares for her Suzie. She knows more about her life than Lora does, and is clearly more of a mother figure than Lora ever was.

While most cinematic narratives of passing "so fully naturalize certain givens that they mask a range of contradictions inherent within them," Douglas Sirk's 1959 satiric remake of John Stahl's 1934 Imitation of Life brilliantly denaturalizes the intersections of race, class and gender presented in the film through Brechtian gestik acting-that is melodramatic, over-the-top acting that imitates behaviors rather than truly feeling them (quotation Valerie Smith's). By pursuing the film in this matter, Sirk produces a wonderful alienation effect (known by film connoisseurs as the "Verfremdungseffekt") that distances the filmgoers from the action, allowing them instead to sit back and criticize the main themes of the film. As the film progresses, we begin to wonder why such unnatural actions are considered perfectly natural by the characters, and consequently we begin to analyze the intersections of race, class and gender in America: Why were such racist and materialistic morals audaciously thought as natural and admirable in pre-Civil Rights America? Why does America idolize such stereotypical representation of beauty?

Lora Meredith (Lana Turner) is first seen through a male lens-literally, that of Steve's (John Gavin's) camera. The wind blows through her white dress and perfectly-styled blonde hair as she calls for her daughter whom she's neglectfully lost sight of. The camera (both Steve's and Sirk's) moves slowly up her body, capturing what Michel Foucault has termed the "microphysics of power"-dissecting her figure into "spatial, temporal, gestural" fragments that represent the ideal woman (Ingeborg Majer O'Sickey). Even while in alleged distress, she walks daintily, smiling and holding her head up high, leaning gracefully over the boardwalk. Her actions, hair and attire closely resemble those of the 1959 Barbie "symbolic of society's ideal of the perfect woman" (Sage Sohier). We know little about Lora at this point (and neither does Steve), yet we know just by looking at her that she'll be the "successful" person in the story, whatever that means. It is the materialistic characters that Lora represents that make such lines as "you're making me feel cheap" by Lora so comical.

Tall, dark and handsome "Prince Charming" Steve suddenly appears at Lora's door shortly after the beach adventure with pictures, finds out she's a widow and quickly moves into her life. The way the two characters passionately throw themselves at each other during love scenes is laughable, especially when followed by Steve proposing marriage right away, then ordering her in his next breath to not go down to the acting studio "because [he] says so." She won't have to worry about getting a job because he'll be "the man," acting out his role as the money-bringer in the house while Lora stays home and looks pretty. The scene becomes especially comical watching it in the 21st century, when not too many women will settle for the machismo "men act, women appear" attitude (John Berger).

As Lora becomes "successful," we are brought into her spotless house filled with every material luxury in the world-yet even then the African American family of Annie (Juanita Moore) and Sarah Jane still stay in back rooms. Ironically, both daughters begin to reject their own mothers and practically "switch" them. While Annie and Suzy are sickeningly sweet, Annie's Sarah Jane (Susan Kohner) and Lora are overly dramatic. Even as a little girl, Sarah Jane (Karin Dicker) rejects her "blackness," and tries to pass for white. While she asserts: "I'm white," the camera slowly moves in on her wide eyes as dramatic music plays, allowing us to criticize her selfish actions for denying her race, rather than transcending racial boundaries. Similarly, we criticize Lora's actions as an irresponsible mother as she and Suzy drift further apart. During this tension, we're presented with a great interlude of levity when Suzy shouts "STOP ACTING!" at her mother-we were so used to the overacting to begin with that it became hysterical when another character (who acts over-the-top as well) has picked up on it.

While we're constantly reminded that the film is indeed a parodic imitation, we are brought back to the film's serious issues during Annie's lavish funeral scene when Mikaliah Jackson's character poignantly pours her heart out in a beautiful, eulogistic song. While many pull out the Kleenex during this scene, we must remember that it's NOT supposed to be cathartic. Instead, we should step back and think about how realistic it was for an African American female to receive such grand attention at a funeral. Then, we can sit back and cry for a real reason.

Unique and progressive for its time, and even funnier in the 21st century, Sirk's remake is a brilliant, provocative film-a gem that transcends generations, but lets us critically view pre- and post- Civil Rights America. Highly recommended!

I have seen this movie at least 7 times, trying not to cry at the ending. All 7 times I have failed and needed a box of tissues. The acting is superb!! It's a talent that's almost lost today..everything centered on sex and drugs...this movie is phenomenal WITHOUT using those 2 vices. It's a classic, and I strongly recommend this movie.