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Weekend Classics: Douglas Sirk

When director Douglas Sirk fled Germany in 1937 after his Jewish wife’s persecution at the hands of the Nazis, he brought with him a brand of exquisitely-crafted, expressionistic melodramas which — while not respected by critics at the time — left an indelible mark on Hollywood’s populist women’s pictures. Emotionally complex, beautifully shot, and always with a sharpened dagger to the throat of the ‘50s American values, Sirk’s films made throughout that decade are some of the most insightful depictions of the ways in which the American Dream suffocated and isolated women of all walks of life. These delicious pictures offer a subversive dive into the lives of these women, the tumultuous men they love, and society’s obsession with maintaining a mundane ordinariness in the post-war era. It’s little wonder his films have now attracted a cult following and inspired a spate of filmmakers in their wake including Rainer Werner Fassbinder, John Waters, and Todd Haynes to name only a few.

IMITATION OF LIFE
Sat-Sun, May 7-8

IMITATION OF LIFE

An aspiring white actress takes in an African American widow whose mixed-race daughter is desperate to be seen as white in Sirk’s emotion-shattering subversive masterpiece.
Seminar: Douglas Sirk: Origins of a Vision
Sat, May 14 at 10:00am

Seminar: Douglas Sirk: Origins of a Vision

In anticipation of the Belcourt’s screening of four of his technicolor masterpieces, this seminar will examine the early career of Detlef Sierck, the director for the German stage in the 1920s and then for UFA, the primary German film studio, before his political sympathies and Jewish wife led him to emigrate to the United States in 1937. Presented by James McFarland, associate professor of German and Cinema and Media Arts at Vanderbilt University
WRITTEN ON THE WIND
Sat-Sun, May 14-15

WRITTEN ON THE WIND

When sensible secretary Lucy has the misfortune of marrying a Texas oil tycoon, it drives a wedge between the man and his lifelong best friend that unleashes a maelstrom of psychosexual angst and fury.
MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION
Sat-Sun, May 21-22

MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION

Reckless playboy Bob Merrick and the recently widowed Helen find themselves inextricably linked amid a series of increasingly wild twists, turns, trials and tribulations.
ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS
Sat-Sun, May 28-29

ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS

This heartbreakingly beautiful indictment of 1950s American mores documents the blossoming love between a well-off widow and her handsome and earthy younger gardener.