Private Lives, Public Fates - Too Much, Melodrama on Film
As part of the BFI’s UK-wide season Too Much: Melodrama on Film, CFF presents a selection of melodrama films held together by the strong, assertive presence of women. Join us on journeys through Mexico City’s red-light district, Japan, Tunisia and American suburbia, where women’s struggles embody the larger political issues at stake. Revolutions, discrimination, abuse, underground structures of power and the flow of capital all affect these characters and in turn, enrich the way we perceive emotions as acute reactions to the world around us.
The Silences Of The Palace
Set in a Tunisian palace under French rule, this powerful drama unearths hidden lives and generational silence through a young woman’s memories. A landmark of Arab cinema, rich in emotion and insight.
Victims of Sin
A nightclub dancer risks everything to protect an abandoned child in this explosive blend of music, melodrama and noir. A Golden Age Mexican classic, newly restored and defiantly full of heart.
All That Heaven Allows
A widow’s love for her younger gardener sparks scandal in 1950s suburbia. Douglas Sirk’s Technicolor classic is a lush, subversive tale of desire, defiance and the cost of conformity.
Forever A Woman
A poet faces illness and heartbreak in post-war Japan, using verse as defiance and self-discovery. Kinuyo Tanaka’s bold, lyrical drama remains a landmark of female creativity and resilience.