In 2025, we highlighted the often-neglected genre of melodrama.

When used as a term applied to cinema, ‘melodrama’ refers to films that go straight for the heart—using exaggerated performances, narrative pathos and vivid stylisation to wring every teardrop of emotion from the audience. Aimed explicitly at women (and often called ‘women’s films’ or ‘weepies’), they were often dismissed by the critics of their time but remained hugely popular with audiences. Later critics rehabilitated the genre, recognising films such as Mildred Pierce as searing commentaries on the society of their day, while more modern international films such as In the Mood for Love serve as loving homages to those vintage Hollywood melodramas.

While critics argued over their place in the cinematic canon, the public recognised these films for what cinema does best—to make you feel. Films, particularly when experienced in a cinema, are uniquely placed to elicit powerful emotions in the viewer—as anyone who has found themselves with wet cheeks when the lights came back on can attest.

Films in our Melodrama Strand 2025:
Umbrellas of Cherbourg | Atonement | In the Mood for Love | The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant | Mildred Pierce | A Woman Under the Influence | Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story | Rebel Without a Cause | Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? | Far from Heaven