--- title: "Imitation of Life: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/imitation-of-life/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/imitation-of-life" critics_score: 78 critics_reviews: 8 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Imitation of Life (1959): what the critics said Critics' score 78 from 8 reviews: 7 positive, 0 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics take Imitation of Life for a melodrama that knows exactly what it is doing. The praise clusters on Sirk’s direction: the Technicolor surfaces, the open manipulation, and the way the weepie machinery is turned against the racism and commercialism it appears to serve. Juanita Moore and Susan Kohner, as the mother and the light-skinned daughter who rejects her, draw the warmest notices, and their subplot is repeatedly named the strongest thing in the film. Nearly everyone mentions the funeral. The spread is narrow at the top and then drops sharply. Seven of eight reviews are positive; the one dissenter is The New York Times, writing on release, which finds a shameless tear-jerker with banal dialogue and overacting. Later critics tend to read that excess as deliberate, and Collider notes the film was dismissed as soap before being recognised for its boldness on race, class and gender. Variety, also at the time, is warmer but measured: a solid remake, with Lana Turner outstanding. ## Empire — Ian Freer Rating 5/5. 1 February 2007. The critic calls it a consummate display of populist weepie-making that edges out the 1934 version thanks to Sirk's ersatz style and masterful manipulation. Standout praise goes to the performances of Moore and Kohner, especially their hell-for-leather confrontation scene. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/imitation-life-review/) ## Slant Magazine — Ed Gonzalez Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 3 July 2003. Sirk's film is a sardonic melodrama that exposes the deranged surfaces and racial realities of American society through its story of ambition, passing, and maternal sacrifice. The critic praises its rigorous mise-en-scène, Brechtian distancing, and sensitive handling of the light-skinned daughter's rejection of her mother as a subversive critique of white America's relationship to people of color. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/imitation-of-life/) ## The New Yorker — Richard Brody Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 26 March 2015. Sirk unleashes a melodramatic torrent of rage at the corrupt core of American life including racism, commercialism, and puritanism. The grand finale funeral is a trumpet blast against social façades. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/imitation-of-life) ## Time Out — GA Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 31 March 2015. Sirk's final Hollywood film is a coldly brilliant weepie that undercuts romantic sentimentality with racial tension and the breakdown of family bonds. The critic highlights a key moment where emotional payoff is undercut by the daughter's rejection of her mother and the unforgettable funeral scene that reveals underlying hopelessness. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/imitation-of-life) ## Little White Lies — Sophie Monks Kaufman Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 4 December 2016. Sirk's 1959 melodrama is a perfect vehicle for encoding awareness of racial injustice in America through emotional arcs and Technicolor surfaces. The piece singles out Juanita Moore's performance as Annie for embodying the tragedy of a Black woman navigating subservience and limited aspirations in a racist society. [Read the review](https://lwlies.com/articles/imitation-of-life-douglas-sirk-in-praise-of/) ## Variety — Variety Staff Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1958. The film is a solid remake with Lana Turner outstanding as the ambitious actress. The subplot of the light-skinned daughter passing as white, played memorably by Susan Kohner and Juanita Moore, emerges as the strongest element. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1958/film/reviews/imitation-of-life-3-1200419391/) ## The New York Times — Bosley Crowther Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 19 April 1959. The remake is another shameless tear-jerker in the soapy vein of the 1934 version, with hackneyed encounters, banal dialogue, and excessive acting. A funeral scene provides the final emotional pull but the whole is marked by bathos and banality. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1959/04/19/archives/detergent-drama-imitation-of-life-in-familiar-soapy-vein.html) ## Collider — Liam Gaughan Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 18 August 2024. The critic views Imitation of Life as a controversial yet progressive masterpiece that was initially dismissed for its melodrama but later recognized for tackling race, class, and gender more boldly than most Old Hollywood films. They single out its complex portrayal of biracial identity and Sarah Jane's struggles as a key element that influenced later directors like Todd Haynes. [Read the review](https://collider.com/imitation-of-life-movie/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/imitation-of-life.md