Predicated on a May-December romance, the difference here is that the woman, attractive widow Cary Scott (Jane Wyman), is considerably older than the man, handsome gardener Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson).
Throwing conventional behaviour to the winds and facing social ostracism, Cary pursues her romance with Bohemian Ron, who is unjustly perceived as a fortune-hunter by Cary's friends and family - especially her priggish brother Ned (William Reynolds). With lavishly saturated colour schemes and loaded compositions, we are treated to a potent story for the ages. Director Sirk was one of the inspirations for R.W. Fassbinder's vivid visual style and Brechtian narrative approaches; his ‘Fear Eats the Soul’ is modelled on ‘All That Heaven Allows’.