The term “melodrama” doesn’t have a specific definition.
The melodrama pays more importance to emotional expression than character development.
Melodramas are known for existing in a perpetual state of emotional intensity.
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Many films from classic Hollywood, fromStella DallastoMildred Pierce, are perfect representatives of this subgenre.
However, modern cinema has also produced several examples that could very easily be qualified as classic melodramas.
Heightened to the point of irony,May Decemberismelodrama at its most potent and unadulterated.
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Oscar winnersNatalie PortmanandJulianne Mooreare at their wicked best, delivering biting and evasive performances that rank as career-best.
However, their bond is tested when Barbara learns Sheba is having an affair with a fifteen-year-old student.
Take his 2003 arthouse dramaDogville, starring Oscar-winnerNicole Kidmanas a woman on the run from a series of mobsters.
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Tough to sit through but artistically valuable,Dogvilleis melodrama at its meanest.
The Whaleis familiar territory for Aronofsky, who has always been fascinated by obsession, addiction, and self-destruction.
The film dramatizes the real-life tragedies of the Von Erich wrestling family throughout the 1980s.
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