Douglas Sirk

 Douglas Sirk




Magnificent Obsession (1954)



RANKED:


1. Magnificent Obsession (1954)


Despite having a filmography that reaches all the way back to the mid-1930s, Douglas Sirk is synonymous with the 1950s. His melodramas, their images, atmospheres, and color grading all echo the lush American sensationalism of its time period. 1954's "Magnificent Obsession" kicked off a string of films that would come to define his career and his style. Despite the external technicolor beauty, beyond the soapy melodrama, and underneath the wealth-obsessed characters lies a sense of emptiness. This emptiness can only be remedies by real human connection, which is something the characters deeply desire. Even though the film resembles the luxury, abundance, and the external fabrication of the 1950s, "Magnificent Obsession," along with the select other films that would follow, subvert these notions to dig into real human emotion and connection.

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