The defence The Prestige Tourist
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
Back to trending 
Imitation of Life
Drama · Romance · 1959
In 1940s New York, a white widow who dreams of being on Broadway has a chance encounter with a black single mother, who becomes her maid.
Movie details
Imitation of Life
“Fannie Hurst's best selling novel of today's tormented generation!”
1959 Drama · Romance 2h 5m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
7.8 / 10
19.1K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
82 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
87 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
7.4 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
In 1940s New York, a white widow who dreams of being on Broadway has a chance encounter with a black single mother, who becomes her maid.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Imitation of Life?
For the defence
The Prestige Tourist
“You like your greatness pre-approved.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
Love Everlasting
Romance · 2016
Bridger is a young outsider who's always wanted more. He and his mother flee an abusive home, eventually finding a small town in the middle of nowhere. Once there, Bridger finds true acceptance with another misfit.
Breathe
Drama · 2017
Based on the true story of Robin, a handsome, brilliant and adventurous man whose life takes a dramatic turn when polio leaves him paralyzed.
The Bridges of Madison County
Drama · 1995
Photographer Robert Kincaid wanders into the life of housewife Francesca Johnson for four days in the 1960s.
Purple Hearts
Romance · 2022
An aspiring musician agrees to a marriage of convenience with a soon-to-deploy Marine, but a tragedy soon turns their fake relationship all too real.
The Fugitive Kind
Romance · 1960
Val Xavier, a drifter of obscure origins, arrives at a small town and gets a job in a store run by Lady Torrence. Her husband, Jabe M. Torrance, is dying of cancer. Val is pursued by Carol Cutere, the enigmatic local tramp-of-good-family.
Skin
Drama · 2009
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Rosie
Drama · 2019
A mother strives to shield her young family from their new reality when their landlord sells the property and renders them homeless.
Starving in Suburbia
Drama · 2014
When seventeen-year-old Hannah stumbles upon a website about Thinspiration--an online community devoted to anorexia as a life choice--she becomes an obsessive follower of the site founder, ButterflyAna. By the time Hannah's family realizes what is happening and get Hannah the help she needs, the disease has fully taken hold and Hannah is refusing to eat. Will this family be able to exorcise the demon of anorexia from their lives?
TalhotBlond
Drama · 2012
Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.
Mansfield Park
Romance · 1999
Fanny Price is sent to live with her wealthy relatives, the Bertrams, where she is treated poorly by most except her cousin Edmund. Her life is complicated by the arrival of the worldly Mary and Henry Crawford.
Where it lives
Watch in your region.
Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.
Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.
Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Douglas Sirk
Written by
Eleanore Griffin · Allan Scott
Lana Turner
Lora Meredith
John Gavin
Steve Archer
Juanita Moore
Annie Johnson
Sandra Dee
Susie (16)
Susan Kohner
Sarah Jane (18)
Robert Alda
Allen Loomis
Dan O'Herlihy
David Edwards
Court is in session
Put Imitation of Life on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.