All That Heaven Allows

Cary and Ron in "All That Heaven Allows"

Cary is a widowed woman living alone in the home that used to house her husband and two children. After her husband passed away, her children grew old and moved out only to return on the weekends. Ron has been the family's gardener since before the children's father had passed away. It is only now that Cary is beginning to show some interest in him. They start out not sure of what it will become, but later in the movie find they have fallen in love with each other. They are to get married, but the children do not approve. The two come from two different lives. Cary is a wealthy home owner with a small circle of closed minded, judgmental friends. Ron is a simple man living in a cabin in the woods farming trees.

In the textbook, the author discusses the idea of a coincidence. Coincidences occur in melodramas often to stir up the normality and sometimes cause conflict between characters. A huge coincidence occurs in “All That Heaven Allows” when towards the end of the movie, Cary finds out that her daughter is getting married. This is a coincidence because when Cary told her children she was getting married, they threw a fit and wouldn’t accept it because they were afraid of the change. We also find out that her son Ned is going away and her children tell her to sell the house. After Cary gave up what she thought could be her new life with Ron, her children bail on her…despite the fact that she gave up everything specifically because of and for them. Her children are acting selfish when they do not realize what she has done for them.