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Sat-Sun, May 14-15

WRITTEN ON THE WIND

  • Dir. Douglas Sirk
  • USA
  • 1956
  • 99 min.
  • NR
  • New DCP Restoration
  • Assistive Listening
  • Hearing Loop
WRITTEN ON THE WIND

Part of Weekend Classics: Douglas Sirk.

The Technicolor expressionism of Douglas Sirk reached a fever pitch with this operatic tragedy, which finds the director pushing his florid visuals and his critiques of American culture to their subversive extremes. Alcoholism, nymphomania, impotence and deadly jealousy — these are just some of the toxins coursing through a massively wealthy, degenerate Texan oil family. When a sensible secretary (Lauren Bacall) has the misfortune of marrying the clan’s neurotic scion (Robert Stack), it drives a wedge between him and his lifelong best friend (Rock Hudson) that unleashes a maelstrom of psychosexual angst and fury. Featuring an unforgettably debauched, Oscar-winning supporting performance by Dorothy Malone and some of Sirk’s most eye-popping mise-en-scène, WRITTEN ON THE WIND is as perverse a family portrait as has ever been splashed across the screen. (Synopsis courtesy of Criterion Collection)

“In countless ways visible and invisible, Sirk's sly subversion skewed American popular culture, and helped launch a new age of irony.” —Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

“Any time a film scholar tries to steer a Sirk conversation into dry academicism, remind them that, in WRITTEN ON THE WIND, a character rhumbas her father to death.” —Eric Henderson, Slant

The Belcourt Theatre does not provide advisories about subject matter or potential triggering content, as sensitivities vary from person to person.

Beyond the synopses, trailers and review links on our website, other sources of information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense MediaIMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.