Imitation of Life

★★★★★

Turkish title: Zehirli hayat

“Fannie Hurst's best selling novel of today's tormented generation!”

1959 · 2 h 5 min

Directed by Douglas Sirk

Drama

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Cast

Lana Turner John Gavin Sandra Dee Juanita Moore

Credits

Written by: Eleanore Griffin

Plot

A widowed actress and her Black housekeeper raise their daughters together, and one daughter chooses to pass as white.

Sinekatalog’s take

Douglas Sirk's Technicolor melodrama about race, ambition and motherhood is lush and heartbreaking. Juanita Moore is devastating, and the film is a rich, ironic landmark that reveals America's hypocrisy.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.

Ratings

IMDb: 7.8 / 10 (20,168 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.

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