Films in the genre of melodrama are often looked down upon, dismissively calling them "teardrops." However, it is love lyrics that most often allow you to survive the real catharsis - spiritual purification through higher emotional stress. Psychologists believe that this allows you to get rid of many internal clamps and conflicts, to reduce the risk of developing neurosis. In addition, the best melodramas of love to tears are often masterpieces of cinematic art.
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Foreign melodramas about love: a list of the best
Foreign film companies stably deliver on the screens a lot of quality films about love. The best foreign melodramas are often shot jointly by directors and actors from different countries, but you can conditionally divide them into three groups.
American movies to tears
American melodrama is always a successful synthesis of plot dynamics and depth of emotions. Some of the best love films made in the USA are:
“Lake House”, 2006
The debut film of the Argentinean director Alejandro Agresti, with the participation of two Hollywood movie stars - Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves. The film is interspersed with elements of science fiction, but at the same time very calm and intelligent. The plot is based on the relationship of two lonely people, separated not by space, but by time. Heroes live in the same house, but at a two-year "distance" from each other, communicating through an old mailbox. Sometimes, it seems that Sandra and Keanu are not playing anything - so reliably the actors manage to convey the feelings of their characters.
“Space between us”, 2017
The film was shot by British director and screenwriter Peter Chels.The action takes place in the future, and the main characters are divided by outer space: Tulsa lives on Earth, and Gardner was born on Mars. Young people correspond, fall in love with each other, but the girl does not know about millions of kilometers lying between her and her beloved. When Gardner manages to get to Earth, it turns out that he and Tulsa have only a few days to be a little happy.
Sweet November 2001
Another romance with Keanu Reeves, shot by Pat O’Connor. The main character was played by Charlize Theron - Keanu's partner in the film "Devil's Advocate". “Sweet November” is the story of a careerist whose life is dramatically changed by a meeting with an eccentric girl who teaches him not to live somewhere tomorrow, but here and now. This film is an example of the divergence of critics and viewers. If critics took the picture negatively, then it causes empathy among the audience, and the final touches to tears.
“Long road”, 2015
This picture is an example of a successful film adaptation of a literary work. The film was directed by George Tillman Jr. based on the novel of the same name by Nicholas Charles Sparks. The plot consists of two parallel romantic stories. The first shows the development of relations between two young people - Luke and Sofia. The second one unfolds a retrospective of the love affairs of an elderly couple, who carried their feelings through life. The real pearl of the film was the game of Una Castilla Chaplin - the Spanish actress and granddaughter of the genius Charlie Chaplin.
"P.S. I love you, 2007
"Sometimes it remains to say only one thing," says the tagline for the film by the talented director Richard Lagravenese. This is a story about how death suddenly destroys a seemingly ideal life, but turns out to be powerless in front of true love. The plot focuses on the emotional torment of a young widow receiving letters from her dear beloved husband. Each message ends with the postscript “I love you” and helps the heroine cope with the loss.
The peculiarity of American films about love is the unexpected disclosure of the dramatic talent of some Hollywood stars.
French melodramas
Among the French love tapes, the following paintings deserved a lot of positive feedback:
Don't Tell Anyone, 2006
The film directed by Guillaume Canet has a sharp, dynamic detective story, however, the central love line gives it such a bright melodramatic hue that only mannequins do not cry in the finale. The main role was played by François Clouzet, who played a pediatrician whose wife was killed by a serial maniac. However, after a few years, the main character receives an email and realizes that his lover is alive. The film rightfully earned many prestigious awards and praise from the audience.
“This Awkward Moment,” 2015
Paintings with Vincent Cassel are traditionally associated with high quality acting, and paired with Francois Clauzet, this actor turns any film into a masterpiece. The plot is based on the fleeting forbidden passion of an aging man for a friend’s grown daughter and the severity of its consequences. A very frank picture of the impotence of men before sexual provocation, of fatal mistakes, of love and friendship.
“The Illusion of Love”, 2016
A very "female" film by a female director Nicole Garcia with the beautiful Marion Cotillard in the title role. The action takes place in the middle of the XX century. The heroine, obsessed with the "indecent" idea of finding true love, is given to her parents to marry. But marriage seems to her a prison, leads to neurosis, and unrealized feelings make her look for other ways.
“My first time”, 2012
A beautiful story about the first youthful love, with all its awkwardness, touchingness and depth. Love as a stage of growing up. Love as a transforming power. This film by Marie-Castile Mension-Shaar is often compared to the Spanish film “Three Meters Above Sky”, but many critics note the great depth of the theme in combination with true French sensuality.
“Apartment”, 1996
The film with Vincent Cassel and Monica Bellucci was initially doomed to become a hit, and became one. At the same time, a romantic and tragic history of relations and a strong intriguing plot. Love here sparkles with its dark edges - burning passion, a tool of manipulation. In 2004, a remake of “Obsession” was filmed for the movie “Apartment” in Hollywood.
French melodramas in recent years have been a strong association with American cinema. However, the influence of Hollywood does not prevent the French from leaving their own cultural markers inside the films.
English films
"Misty Albion" gives the genre of melodrama restrained passion, but completely dispels the myth of English stiffness. British directors sometimes create love tapes of amazing strength and depth:
Stephen Hawking’s Universe, 2014
The film was directed by James Marsh, awarded an Oscar nomination. Biographical tape about the famous English scientist Stephen Hawking, suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease. However, this is not only a film about a courageous struggle against a progressive illness, but a sentimental story about true love and devotion.
“Room with a view”, 1985
Another "Oscar-winning" British film masterpiece is the film adaptation of the novel by Edward Morgan Forster. The classic English drama about the love of a well-bred young lady to a young man of "another circle." The action takes place as a confrontation between dead traditions and a young thirst for life.
Breathe for us, 2017
A film distribution novelty that has already managed to win a 75% rating among Russian viewers. In the center of the plot is a young guy who suddenly received a terrible diagnosis. The slogan of the film is “Love in every breath,” and it fully expresses the main idea of the film. The wonderful play of young actors Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy is one of the undoubted advantages of the picture.
45 years old, 2015
Dramatic variation of director Andrew Haig on the eternal theme of eternal love. An elderly couple, having lived 45 years in marriage, is faced with unexpected doubts: what if we were not together? Would life be better? This picture tells about overcoming the inevitable crises, about the amazing phenomenon of the "sprouting" of the souls of a man and a woman in each other.
“Last Love on Earth”, 2011
David Mackenzie’s melodrama unfolds in a fantastic surroundings of an epidemic of an unknown disease that causes people to gradually lose their sense of taste, touch, smell, hearing, and vision. This film is an attempt to investigate the question of what kind of tests love undergoes with the loss of physical sensitivity?
Thus, the best melodramas are created not only from the desire to “squeeze a tear” from the viewer, but they are also deeply immersed in existential issues.
Best Russian melodramas: a list
Despite the criticism stagnation of post-Soviet cinema, Russian directors are still able to offer very good quality films:
“You are mine alone, 1993
The film by the magnificent director Dmitry Astrakhan, shot in the hectic and hungry 90s, literally for a penny. The picture not only honestly describes the everyday realities of those years, but also deals with the solution of the “damned” Russian issues: money or conscience, love or sale. Such bright actors as Alexander Zbruev and Marina Neyolova were engaged in the work, which automatically transfers the film to the category of classics of Russian cinema.
Bear Kiss, 2002
The last acting work of Sergei Bodrov (younger) in the picture of his father - Sergei Bodrov (senior). This film cannot be called an ordinary melodrama. Rather, it is a fabulous parable about love, cruelty, opposition to peace and self-sacrifice.
“Artist”, 2007
A bright, slightly funny, but very moving and sentimental picture with a star cast: Evgenia Dobrovolskaya, Alexander Abdulov, Maria Aronova, Yuri Stepanov, Dmitry Pevtsov, Mikhail Efremov.The story of female loneliness and despair, which to the end turns into finding long-awaited happiness.
The Yellow Dwarf, 2001
Another masterpiece of Dmitry Astrakhan, which demonstrates a non-trivial approach to the disclosure of a love theme. This film has it all: the problems of the midlife crisis, and the eternal confrontation between fathers and children, and the truth of love, and the lie of a habit. The main roles were played by Alexander Abdulov, Elena Proklova and Anna Legchilova.
The Princess on the Beans, 1997
A great example of how a seemingly simple variation of the erased story about Cinderella with a serious approach can turn into a piercing lyrical story. The action takes place in the atmosphere of the 90s, where on the site of Cinderella there is an emaciated middle-aged dishwasher (in the past - a research assistant), and in the role of a prince - a handsome businessman of plebeian origin. The excellent cast of the film (Elena Safonova, Sergey Zhigunov, Vladimir Konkin) allows us to put a “quality mark” on this picture.
Russian melodramas are distinguished by the diversity of our culture and the search for additional meanings, even in simple stories.
TOP 10 best melodramas of all time
All sorts of ratings give a generalized idea of what kind of movies-melodramas are preferred by the audience.
There are different TOPs, and their analysis showed that almost all of the following pictures are included:
- The Ghost, 1990.
- The Titanic, 1997.
- Gone With the Wind, 1939.
- "Cruel Romance", 1984.
- Ordinary Miracle, 1978.
- “You never dreamed”, 1980.
- "Diary of memory", 2004.
- “Love”, 2012.
- “Man and Woman”, 1966.
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004.
The distribution of these paintings by places is a futile task, since each of them has won a separate corner in the hearts and memories of the audience. The lyrical theme is disclosed in these films by different methods, the melodramatic lines are drawn with different strokes, but there is one thing in common: they make the heart beat faster and not lose the main landmark in the life cycle - love.
