Sirk vs Haynes

SPOILER ALERT! If you havent seen All That Heaven Allows and/or Far From Heaven, don't read this if you don't want it spoiled!

I watched the Douglas Sirk film, All That Heaven Allows, as well as the Todd Haynes film inspired by it, Far From Heaven. Both films are set in the 1950's, Sirk's is filmed then and Haynes' was filmed in 2002. I decided to compare and contrast the two.

They are both basically about a woman who is in a relationship deemed inappropriate by her social circle. She is well-to-do, and is in the upper class, therefore expected to behave a certain way. She falls in love with her gardener.

The main differences between the two, are that in Sirk's classic the gardener, played by Rock Hudson, is a white man, while in Haynes' version the gardener is a black man played by Dennis Haysbert. Also, in the original, the protagonist is a widow, while in the new one she is married to a high profile executive who turns out to be gay.

Both deal with issues of class. Far From Heaven takes it to more of an extreme, including the issue of homosexuality in the 50's, as well as interracial relationships and prejudice. They both deal with the issue of the repressed woman during this time, but it seems that in the original there is more of a resolution, "happy ending" style, where she gets her man in the end after realizing she shouldn't let society dictate her behavior.

In All That Heaven Allows, the gardener also has more power in the world than Haysbert's character does, being a black man. It would have been far more dangerous for them to have carried out their relationship.

Both films use the classic Hollywood style of filming, and both portray the women as very soft spoken and polite. The issue of appearances is very obvious, especially in the remake, as she tries to hold it together even as her world falls apart.

It was interesting to me how different the films were while being so similar. I think aesthetically they were very different even though the costumes and cinematography were so similar. I enjoyed the aesthetics of them for different reasons. The remake seemed to really push the visuals of it in the same way that Sirk pushed the melodrama of his. (Don't get me wrong, they were both extremely melodramatic!)

I would recommend anyone who watches these, to watch them both, in a small space of time so that you can see the differences and similarities for yourself.