Divorce is never easy, and for the wife all of a sudden told by her husband that he wants a divorce, it will not be easy for him to obtain. She wants her day in court. Hell hath no fury like Bette Davis when she's scorned, and after a seemingly happy marriage, hubby Barry Sullivan's request for a peaceful divorce will not go unpunished. As Davis faces life alone, she reflects on their relationship from their innocent courtship to his struggles rising up the ladder and to her own social climbing schemes with the aid of an aging society matron (the marvelous Jane Cowl). Ms. Cowl tells Davis upon their first meeting that she is immediately on to her, recognizing all the signs because "I invented them". Davis also learns some valuable lessons from her about getting older and lonelier, something she must utilize as she looks at the woman she's become rather than who she could have been.
But in the meantime, Davis is ruthless as she goes out of her way to find any way to make Sullivan pay for what she believes to be his betrayal. "I made him, now I can break him", the poster for this movie declares with an imperious Davis standing in the background. Certainly enough, Davis did go out of her way to introduce him to the right people, and pushed him just enough to make him think that he was becoming more successful on his own. His belief that their marriage has become so staid to the point that they bore each other is rewarded with a hard slap across the face. She can't face her own failings and her part in the disillusions of their marriage and this leads to her temperature rising to red-hot then all of a sudden cooling below freezing temperature as she realizes the truth about what she's become.
There were two types of Bette Davis performances after her triumph in "All About Eve": the camp, melodramatic Bette (films like "Another Man's Poison" and "The Anniversary") and the serious character study of women falling apart ("The Star", "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?", "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte"). This ranks in the later, allowing Bette to play every emotion as she plays devoted mother unaware of troubles leading up to her own spouse's spontaneous announcement, her scorned woman's revenge, her realization of what life holds in store for her in being alone, and finally, in her breakdown scene, one of Bette's finest moments on film. Sullivan underplays the role of the husband, but his character is far from perfect although his involvement with another woman (Frances Dee) is certainly understandable.
An interesting supporting cast surrounds the two, particularly Betty Lynn and Peggie Castle as their two growing daughters, Natalie Schafer and Katherine Emery as two of Davis's gossipy social circle, Otto Kruger as Davis's attorney, and especially Cowl as the wise but sad older woman who subtly warns Davis to watch what she's doing. The screenplay is excellent, and the direction by Curtis Bernhardt allows the viewer to empathize with Davis as she grows more and more bitter which brings sympathy when she finally faces destruction. This is one of Davis's classier films which reveals a lot about a woman's heart and how easy it is to loose one's soul when clouded by revenge. It deserves a higher place in her archlight of classic films instead of having been rarely seen as it has been, sliding into slight obscurity.
But in the meantime, Davis is ruthless as she goes out of her way to find any way to make Sullivan pay for what she believes to be his betrayal. "I made him, now I can break him", the poster for this movie declares with an imperious Davis standing in the background. Certainly enough, Davis did go out of her way to introduce him to the right people, and pushed him just enough to make him think that he was becoming more successful on his own. His belief that their marriage has become so staid to the point that they bore each other is rewarded with a hard slap across the face. She can't face her own failings and her part in the disillusions of their marriage and this leads to her temperature rising to red-hot then all of a sudden cooling below freezing temperature as she realizes the truth about what she's become.
There were two types of Bette Davis performances after her triumph in "All About Eve": the camp, melodramatic Bette (films like "Another Man's Poison" and "The Anniversary") and the serious character study of women falling apart ("The Star", "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?", "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte"). This ranks in the later, allowing Bette to play every emotion as she plays devoted mother unaware of troubles leading up to her own spouse's spontaneous announcement, her scorned woman's revenge, her realization of what life holds in store for her in being alone, and finally, in her breakdown scene, one of Bette's finest moments on film. Sullivan underplays the role of the husband, but his character is far from perfect although his involvement with another woman (Frances Dee) is certainly understandable.
An interesting supporting cast surrounds the two, particularly Betty Lynn and Peggie Castle as their two growing daughters, Natalie Schafer and Katherine Emery as two of Davis's gossipy social circle, Otto Kruger as Davis's attorney, and especially Cowl as the wise but sad older woman who subtly warns Davis to watch what she's doing. The screenplay is excellent, and the direction by Curtis Bernhardt allows the viewer to empathize with Davis as she grows more and more bitter which brings sympathy when she finally faces destruction. This is one of Davis's classier films which reveals a lot about a woman's heart and how easy it is to loose one's soul when clouded by revenge. It deserves a higher place in her archlight of classic films instead of having been rarely seen as it has been, sliding into slight obscurity.