To Each His Own (1946)
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To Each His Own Movie Review
To Each His Own is a 1946 romantic drama film directed by Mitchell Leisen and starring Olivia de Havilland. It is a very melodramatic, but effective movie.
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“I think this is our dance, mother“
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An unwed mother, forced to give up her child to avoid scandal, follows her son’s life from afar even as she prospers in business. This was one of those woman’s pictures where the movie tried to appeal to the female demographic and it was quite modern in its story and messaging, though a lot of its impact has been blunted over the years.
This is a highly melodramatic tale of a woman who suffers misfortune upon misfortune. Needless to say, it felt rather unrealistic in the constant piling of those tragedies, but the emotional tone was ultimately a positive aspect here as the ending was quite moving and you come to really care for the heroine. The movie is also tonally balanced with many lighter scenes interspersed with all the darker stuff, which was necessary to make the story more palatable.
Olivia de Havilland won the Academy Award for her work in this movie and I would say that she mostly deserved it. Her Jody is an immensely sympathetic heroine, one that got solid character development. Her arc is fantastic and again you come to really root for her happiness. Havilland was particularly adept at executing the more emotional beats of the story, which were aplenty.
The main issue with this movie is the lack of more memorable supporting characters. They are solid, but not one of them received any meaningful development or screen time. But the choice to focus on just her did make for a solid character study at the end of the day.
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To Each His Own benefits from solid cinematography, a pretty good score and fine directing from Mitchell Leisen. The dialogue is very good too and the movie’s emotional resonance is undeniable. The movie walked a fine line between being genuinely moving and too sappy, but it mostly verged on the former. The movie is too long and slow in its pacing and it definitely felt too episodic and repetitious in its narrative, but it served its purpose as a feminist drama for the time.
To Each His Own is a solid, emotionally resonant drama that saw a great Oscar-winning central turn from Olivia de Havilland. The movie was overlong and too melodramatic, but its dialogue, characterization and acting were all excellent, which made for a very effective, moving watch.
My Rating – 4
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#1. Havilland was also nominated for?
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