Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 15-February-09
Spoiler Rating: Medium

All This, and Heaven Too (1940)

All This, and Heaven Too is one of the best examples of historical romance, based on real life, in which the hammy elements do not overwhelm the heartache. Bette Davis gives an understated performance as French governess Henriette Desportes, who travels to Paris to work for a duke and duchess (Charles Boyer and Barbara O'Neil). She notes during her interview that tension flares between the couple, but they have four merry children with whom she bonds instantly. The duchess proves to be a real piece of work. Moody, jealous, and devoid of interest in her offspring, she spends her days and nights obsessing about her husband and making his life as miserable as possible. On top of that, she is doted upon by a churchman who inflames her sense of being a martyr and a father who foots the family's bills and thus feels free to meddle in its affairs. Before long she is convinced that there is an affair, flagrant and adulterous, being carried out under her roof.

The duchess would have suspected any young female in the house, but her husband and Henriette do share something extraordinary. The duke loves his children and admires how the governess nestles snugly and beneficially into their lives. He comes to view their rooms as a haven from the screeching torment of his wife. While it is true that he reaches for Henriette out of unhappiness and she for him out of loneliness, their attachment represents a merging of souls more than an act of desperation. Indeed, there is little action about it.

The strength of All This, and Heaven Too is how it contrasts the anguish of these chaste lovers with society's habit of making everything appear sordid. Henriette and the duke never so much as kiss, understanding their impossible position and responsibility to the children. Yet Parisian society will talk and the duchess will make all manner of accusations, finally throwing Henriette out of the house. Like all unprotected women of bygone eras, she falls upon hard times. When her plight is made known to the duke it precipitates a crisis. Then the noblemen's court and the king himself join in the general rumor-mongering and try to make the duke and Henriette admit to shameful adultery. Laudably, the movie denies that mankind's baser nature always carries the day. Devotion, compassion, and honesty can lead, if not to heaven, then at least to brighter shores.

Copyright © 2009 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.