French director Nicole Garcia’s From the Land of the Moon, along with Pedro Almodovar’s recent film Julieta signal something of a return for the Melodrama genre. Once a staple of Hollywood in the 1950s the genre was often dismissed at the time as ‘women’s films’ or ‘weepies’. However films by director’s like Douglas Sirk (All That Heaven Allows, Written on the Wind) and Max Ophuls (Letters From an Unknown Woman, Madame De) went through a critical re-appraisal in the 1970s and 80s where their progressive approach to female representation and critique of social values were celebrated and championed.

To mark the release of From the Land of the Moon (opening Fri 9 June) and the renewal of this most heightened of genres, join us as we revisit some of the most influential movie melodramas both past and present.

Including Douglas Sirk’s heartbreakingly beautiful indictment of 1950s American mores All that Heaven Allows (Sun 4 June); Max Ophül's noir-tinged melodrama The Reckless Moment (Sun 11 June); Todd Haynes’ homage to Douglas Sirk’s melodramatic style of social critique Far From Heaven (Sun 18 June); and Pedro Almodóvar’s elegant female-focused melodrama about love and loss Julieta (Sun 25 June).

Check out our June Podcast to hear our cinema curator Mark Cosgrove and film writer Tara Judah make the case for melodrama; and explore its heightened tension, searing emotions and progressive female characters.

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