Magnificent Obsession

Magnificent Obsession is hardcore melodrama, much of it definitely silly, with simplistic moralism to top it off. It's also involving, well-paced, saturated with color, and within the confines of a genre founded on exaggeration, most of it is notably believable and effective. Classic Douglas Sirk, in other words.

Sirk manages to make a story about a rich jerk who indirectly kills a woman's husband who then accidentally blinds her before pretending to be someone else to fall in love with her believable. I can't even imagine this type of melodrama being made today.

I like this film quite a bit better now than when I first saw it. Sirk is a sensitive and elegant filmmaker, having some sort of uncanny knack for melodrama which allows this type of outrageously contrived plot to digest easily. But still, Magnificent Obsession lacks the radical social cognizance and genre-subversive wit that elevates Written on the Wind and All That Heaven Allows. In fact it's a rather quaint little Christian morality play.

Here begins the great cycle of Sirkian melodramas: a careless playboy (Rock Hudson) reforms and becomes a surgeon with the aim of healing the woman he loves (Jane Wyman). Sirk was still perfecting his formula, and there are moments which sag (too many heavenly choirs), but Wyman and Hudson give moving performances, and Sirk's firm command of character and color make for some formidable heights indeed.

More frothy nonsense from Sirk, but much harder to detect the critical aspect than in All That Heaven Allows. I think i prefer my irony served upfront (a la Lubitsch) rather than buried under all the semiotic melodrama. Still ravishing to look at though.

As always with Sirk, there's the curious combination of a legitimate weepie and the "OMG, this is so over-done, it's funny"-factor. The promising premise was never fully explored... until 'Pay It Forward' bastardized it years and years later, that is. I hate to admit this but Wyman is too unattractive (plain, I guess is the PC wording) for me to invest in the romance. And is it just me or does Rock Hudson look a bit like Sly? (or maybe it's just his acting style?)

Douglas Sirk's best film. The ultimate in Extreme Chick Pictures. Half the audience will be in tears, and the other half will be laughing

Sirk takes this tissue of dramatic absurdities and crafts something surprisingly profound out of it. It's hard to imagine finding depth in a story filled with ridiculous coincidences, silly pop metaphysics and a hero who chooses the name "Rob Robinson" as a disguise, but I loved every second of it and feel that Sirk found real drama in it's ridiculousness.

bonkers. karma means you have to do brain surgery on the one you love. i'm obsessed

There’s too much pathetic load to get past. The emotional engineering and liberal use of plot-devices is unfortunately present from the beginning to the extent that nothing in between it and the end can provide any satisfaction. Very professional, though.

Pretty easy to make fun of so much melodrama, but after you give up and realize that these characters are just going to make weird decisions, it kind of all falls together in an inoffensive way. The colors are beautiful and Hudson and Wyman do make a good pair. Favorite scene is with the wise-cracking kid on the beach, but honorable mention has to go to the overhead viewing area oddly constructed in a private sanitarium.

80.50

In this film, I learned that hospitals in New Mexico use swinging saloon doors for their inpatient rooms instead of just regular ones.

Over the top and melodramatic, but another memorable Sirk film.

Star Rating: ★★★★1/2

80.500

Somehow both ridiculous and genuine all at once, classic Sirks?!

Melodrama to the utmost power but it's really an enjoyable film, and it even got me a bit emotional towards the end.

I don't know if I really 'get' Mr. Sirk, but I know that I always enjoy watching his films, simply because they are so beautiful to look at. I also know that if Douglas Sirk did not direct this movie, but rather it was handed off to any studio lot filmmaker out there, it would not be nearly as successful. He just has this special flair.

my latest obsession: to see more sirk! thoroughly enjoyed this beautiful and strangely captivating film.

I never cease to be amazed at Sirk. Even in the most preposterous plot twists you can't stop rooting for the characters to ultimately succeed. And the visuals are a marvel I relish every second of.

79.750

watched: 2011, 2013, 2021

"What people don't quite give Sirk credit for nowadays in their rush to justify his intellectual credentials is the fact that if he didn't necessarily believe in the cheesecake he served up." - Eric Henderson

An outrageous but entertaining "women's picture" directed with great style.

Although it is my least favorite Sirk film, it is still one that I would happily view again, simply because Sirk is always working on at least two levels at a time. The blindness part was one bridge to far into melodrama craziness for me, but this is partly because I'm just not a huge Jane Wyman fan I think.

Not as subversive as Sirk's better works, but I've decided that the subversion is not the real reason I like him so much. It adds an extra layer of depth, but it's really just a sideshow. The main attraction is Sirk's wonderful flair for melodrama, the way he elevates it above the usual soapiness one expects. You never feel the characters are being stupid or unreasonable. And this is a mighty fine melodrama. Tears were jerked. Hudson and Wyman are better in ATHA, but they're wonderful here too.

Upon a retrospective of Sirk's work, Rainer Werner Fassbinder spoke of a "direct tenderness" that he found unique and startling - I understand this now. I won't deny there's some hokum involved, but if you find yourself attached to these characters, everything is accepted. Wyman & Hudson are two of the finest actors that have ever lived.