‘How do you tell a child that she was born to be hurt?‘
An American film released in 1959 about a black girl who desperately wants to be white feels like it should be wrought with all sorts of problematic elements. Surprisingly, however, Douglas Sirk’s classic film, Imitation of Life, often feels positively modern, not just in its portrayal of race, but also in how it depicts teenagers, how older women are treated in Hollywood, and the intersection of race and social class in 1950s America…
Lora Meredith (Lana Turner) is a widowed mother with aspirations of becoming an actress. Following an act of kindness, Lora hires Annie Johnson (Juanita Moore), an African-American woman who is also a widowed mother, to become her live in help. The film follows the lives of Lora and Annie, and their respective daughters, Susie (Sandra Dee) and Sarah Jane (Susan Kohner), over the course of several years.
Based on Fannie Hurst’s 1933 novel of the same name, Imitation of Life reflects the rising civil rights movement that was gaining prominence at the time of the film’s release, as well Sirk’s interest in society at large, and how we interact with each other. Both Kohner and Moore were deservedly Oscar nominated for their performances here, and the film itself surely deserved a Best Picture nod as well. By the film’s surprisingly gritty conclusion, I was utterly captivated by these families and their evolving relationships with each other, so much so that the romantic subplot between Lora and her former boyfriend, Steve (John Gavin), fades into insignificance in comparison to the wider story going on around them. In this respect, the film brings to mind John Steinbeck’s magnum opus East of Eden, a story that also follows two intersecting families over the course of many years.
Imitation of Life is everything that some people believe films from the ’50s are not – compelling, daring and fresh. I loved it.
