Imitation of Life
Screening on Film
Directed by Douglas Sirk.
With Lana Turner, Juanita Moore, Sandra Dee.
US, 1959, 35mm, color, 125 min.
With Lana Turner, Juanita Moore, Sandra Dee.
US, 1959, 35mm, color, 125 min.
Sirk’s last major film, Imitation of Life tells the story of two women and their daughters struggling to survive in New York City; Lora (Turner) pursues an acting career while Annie (Moore) is at once a domestic servant at home and a respected leader of her black community. Annie’s daughter, able to pass for white, leaves home—a decision that ultimately leads to an emotional climax symptomatic of Sirk’s melodramatic world. Throughout, Sirk’s expressive use of color heightens the emotional power of his pessimistic but ultimately sympathetic depiction of American race and class relations.
