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A Life of Her Own

Play trailer Poster for A Life of Her Own 1950 1h 48m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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Lily James (Lana Turner) moves from her small hometown in Kansas to New York City, with dreams of becoming a successful model. Despite a close friend's suicide, Lily's determination leads to fame and fortune. But when she meets a rich mine owner named Steve Harleigh (Ray Milland), Lily realizes that money alone cannot buy happiness. She falls for Steve and the lovers begin a passionate affair, but Lily feels guilty when she learns about Steve's paraplegic wife (Margaret Phillips).
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A Life of Her Own

Critics Reviews

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Richard Brody The New Yorker 10/19/2022
The movie feels amazingly inward and tamped down, as if the director and the actors are collectively holding their breath in anticipation of romantic disaster. Go to Full Review
Francois Truffaut Cahiers du Cinéma 04/04/2022
[Cukor] makes, out of every five films, one masterpiece, three other very good ones, and the fifth still interesting. We must place this admirable film beside Holiday, Philadelphia Story, and Little Women. Go to Full Review
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 07/05/2010
C
Starring Lana Turner and Ray Milland, this melodrama about adultery is a minor film in George Cukor's impressive output. Go to Full Review
Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews 03/26/2010
C
This artificially dramatic fluff piece seems as if it was ripped out of the pages of a woman's confessional magazine ... . Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Alain E @AlainE Oct 2 RT provided a service by unearthing the few sentences that Francois Truffaut penned about this movie. He did know a couple things about cinema and I am happy to find out that I agree with his assessment. This is indeed a great story about navigating relationships between the two sexes. Lana Turner acts very well, but she does look older than her film age of 19 or so. The script had the option of a happy ending and don’t care about the results to other people, or a tragedy. Wisely it steers clear from both. Turner breaks the spell by smashing the porcelain object that reminded her of her girlfriend who chose self destruction. The symbolism of the object is possibly a reference to the sled in Citizen Kane, which survives the protagonist. There is excellent black and white photography, especially in the night scenes and very good music. Very good is also the small part that Ann Dvorak plays in the beginning as the older fashion model who cannot tolerate the stress. See more Gary K. N 01/21/2024 The test of any great artist is making mediocre material effective. Lana Turner succeeds in doing that in this film. She is obliged to run through a range of emotions as she struggles to deal with an insoluble personal dilemma, and does it very well. The problem is that the story itself is a pedestrian love triangle that lacks the nuances of a real life adultery in which the trio maturely work out some accommodation. That is less dramatic, of course, than the "all of nothing" Hollywood treatment, which leads to histrionics and dead ends. But audiences wouldn't accept a tale of successful adultery in 1950, and the story doesn't hold up as well as the acting. The entire cast is superb and deserved better. See more 01/08/2022 Lana Turner is brilliant as a successful, but lonely, woman having an affair with a married man. The adultery is further complicated by the health condition of the man's wife. Director George Cukor handles it all with smooth sensitivity. See more 04/25/2015 really good melodrama kinda weepie at least I did anyway. See more 11/28/2011 Even Ray Milland can't save this movie lol. It seems to drag on a bit and George Cukor has done way better than this flick. Prob just made it to fill in a gap somewhere in his repertoire lol. See more 07/17/2011 Lana Turner & Ray Milland make Adultery look Glamorous, but then realize the true costs See more Read all reviews
A Life of Her Own

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Movie Info

Synopsis Lily James (Lana Turner) moves from her small hometown in Kansas to New York City, with dreams of becoming a successful model. Despite a close friend's suicide, Lily's determination leads to fame and fortune. But when she meets a rich mine owner named Steve Harleigh (Ray Milland), Lily realizes that money alone cannot buy happiness. She falls for Steve and the lovers begin a passionate affair, but Lily feels guilty when she learns about Steve's paraplegic wife (Margaret Phillips).
Director
George Cukor
Producer
Voldemar Vetluguin
Screenwriter
Isobel Lennart
Distributor
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Production Co
Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Sep 1, 1950, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 20, 2016
Runtime
1h 48m
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