The season will celebrate cinemas biggest emotions and heightened dramatics from around the world.
The BFI has announced a new season of work celebrating the heightened dramatics and emotional pathos at the heart of film melodrama, inviting film audiences to follow their emotions.
Presented by the BFI at BFI Southbank and BFI IMAX and by the BFI Film Audience Network (BFI FAN) using funds from the National Lottery at cinemas and venues across the UK. This newly announced season will take place rom October-December 2025 via programmes of special events, talks and screenings. In addition, Too Much will also be available UK-wide online via a curated collection of films available to stream on demand on BFI Player.
Exploring the world of melodrama across the decades, the season will feature films ranging from cult classics to lesser-known international gems.
From the early days of cinema and the evolution of the ‘women’s pictures’ of the 1930s and female film stars such as Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck and Claudette Colbert, cult classics and underseen gems, through to work from some of contemporary cinema’s biggest names such as Todd Haynes FAR FROM HEAVEN (2002), Pedro Almodóvar VOLVER (2006), Lars von Trier BREAKING THE WAVES (1996) as well as masterpieces of world cinema.
The season will feature screenings of 7TH HEAVEN (1927, Frank Borzage), IMITATION OF LIFE (1934, John M. Stahl), STELLA DALLAS (1937, King Vidor), NOW VOYAGER (1942, Irving Rapper) BRIEF ENCOUNTER (1945, David Lean), THE LIFE OF OHARU (1952, Kenji Mizoguchi) ÉL (1953, Luis Buñuel), JOHNNY GUITAR (1954, Nicholas Ray), LOLA MONTES (1955, Max Ophüls), STELLA (1955, Michael Cacoyannis) THE CLOUD-CAPPED STAR (1960, Ritwik Ghatak) THE ARCH (1968, T’ang Tsu Shuen), THE BITTER TEARS OF PETRA VON KANT (1972, Rainer Werner Fassbinder), THE SILENCES OF THE PALACE (1994, Moufida Tatli) and many more.
Ruby McGuigan, BFI Programme Development Manager and TOO MUCH BFI Southbank season curator, said: “A story’s emotional heart is what brings us back to it time and time again and allows it to translate across generations and cultures. Melodrama – an embrace of emotion above all – is the lifeblood of great cinema, across decades and geographic borders.
Melodrama has always revelled in the squashing of emotions too volatile for everyday life, and the inevitable explosion under pressure. As a young woman discovering these films, I felt understood. Perhaps I wasn’t insane, or ‘too much’. Perhaps life is just overwhelming sometimes. In recent years we’ve finally seeing women’s emotional worlds take centre stage in literature, music and television – there’s a legacy of this in cinema which I believe is often overlooked.
I’m so excited to share and discuss with audiences how these films make us feel today, and how these bold stories of melodrama’s heroines have driven some of world cinema’s timeless masterpieces. Don’t forget to pack your tissues.”
Too Much will be centred around key themes, Love featuring star-crossed lovers, sacrificial acts of devotion, connections across space and time and melodrama as romance incarnate, Obsession brimming with tales of unrequited love, impossible desires and toxic jealousy, Duty stories of maternal sacrifice, marital constraints and dreams denied simmering beneath the serene surface of family life. Defiance showcasing rebellion in all its forms, both righteous and frivolous, regardless of the consequences, Scandal featuring tales of melodrama’s tragic heroines, who fall victim to its judgmental gaze.
Audiences will also be able to stream films from the season at home on BFI Player, with a selection of 20+ curated titles set to include: Body and Soul (1925, Oscar Micheaux), Craig’s Wife (1936, Dorothy Arzner), The Reckless Moment (1949, Max Ophüls), Victims of Sin (1951, Emilio Fernández), Cairo Station (1958, Youssef Chahine), Red Angel (1966, Yasuzo Masumura), Morgiana (1972, Juraj Herz), Brokeback Mountain (2005, Ang Lee), Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019, Céline Sciamma), and The Damned Don’t Cry (2022, Fyzal Boulifa).
To find out more about the season visit: https://www.bfi.org.uk/news/bfi-announces-too-much-melodrama-major-uk-wide-season