Reflections on All That Heaven Allows

Reflections on All That Heaven Allows

Tayler Dooley

Earlier in the week I had the pleasure of watching a classic melodrama, All That Heaven Allows. The Film is about a widowed mother named Cary who falls in love with a younger man that is viewed by her friends and children as below her class level. She is now forced to choose between her lonely high society life and the new life her and her lover Ron desire to start together.

What I found most interesting about this movie was the symbolism displayed throughout. Symbols of class differences, and life style variances were presented many times over the course of the film, which helped enhance the plot. Early on in the film, the viewer gets a since that Cary and her family are one of privilege. Her children are well educated; Cary essentially lives in a sizable home by herself, and in the first scene of the film they are going to a country club event. Ron on the other hand evidently does not lead a privileged lifestyle. He owns his own tree farm out in the country and does gardening on the side for the town’s elite, including Cary. In fact, that’s how the two met in the first place Ron was trimming her trees. Ron’s home is nothing special, he basically lives in a greenhouse with an old mill that he is renovating.

Cary and Ron live very different lives from one another. Ron’s life is on lacking of material possessions; he enjoys open space and freedom, which is evident by the location and decor of his house. Cary on the other hand lives a life full of status and material possessions. Her house is right in the center of town and it is full of clutter and furniture. She also feels that she has a responsibility to her deceased husband and children to keep up appearances with other members of the town.

Despite their drastically different life styles and social strata, Ron and Cary are able to work through these issues and come together at the end of the movie. The message here is that if you truly love someone, you may need to disregard your previous afflictions. It doesn’t matter what others think or say, personal happiness is all that matters.