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Rating: In 1934, John M. Stahl adapted for the big screen a book by Fannie Hurst titled "Imitation of Life". The result was "Mirror of Life", a film that enjoyed a good success with the public, but the American director had to wait ten years for consecration with "The Keys of the Kingdom". The film fell into oblivion until 1959 when Douglas Sirk proposed a remake by modifying the plot and angles, overshadowing the original, thanks to the Oscar nominations of Juanita Moore and Kohner.
Against the backdrop of 1930s racist America, the character of Lora moves, an aspiring actress who is widowed with a daughter to care for, and a black woman, Annie, also alone with a white-skinned daughter. The lives of the four women intertwine by chance, and Annie ends up becoming the maid and best friend of Lora, accompanying her on the road to success. Once fame is achieved, Lora forgets the importance of family affections and neglects her daughter Susan and the man who wants to marry her, Steve. Meanwhile, Sarah, Annie’s daughter, is determined to deny having a black mother, convinced that this will suffice for an easy social life, while Susan, during yet another absence of her mother for a work trip, falls in love with Steve. Sarah's escape and the discovery of her employment as a promiscuous nightclub dancer will bring Annie to heartbreak. Her death will extinguish all strife and conflicts.
With this film, the German director Sirk, pseudonym for Hans Detlef Sierck, concluded his film career (subsequently he only shot a short film, "Bourbon Street Blues" in 1978). Probably, it was precisely feature films like "Mirror of Life" that unjustly led him to ruin in the eyes of critics. Only around the 1970s was his personality reevaluated (one of his films most considered by numerous directors is "All That Heaven Allows"). Certainly, "Mirror of Life" is not a work that left an impact on world cinema but to downgrade it a priori could prove hasty.
Sirk overturns the original plot to create a classic tear-jerking melodrama. To prove this, just recall the very sad scene of Sarah abandoned in a filthy alley by her furious boyfriend for discovering the black mother or the long funeral scene of Annie. Yet what critics long failed to recognize in this film is precisely the element of greatest interest: the weight of the historical era that burdens individual characters and conditions their actions. The characters are also perfectly portrayed in their respective ambitions for personal achievement. The aspiration for success, pleasing others, being considered independently of one's origins, the will to surpass the maternal example. One way or another, all characters achieve the goal but at a high price, and only the disappearance of a loved one manages to make them reflect and restore the right balance, a rather trivial yet human phenomenon, after all. As initially noted, the film is draped in syrupy, sugary glaze but always counterbalanced by the excellent interpretation of the actresses.
To be reevaluated.
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