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Melodrama is a very challenging genre to attempt. When you couple everyday settings/situations with extremely heightened emotions, the scales can quite easily tip over into camp . Some filmmakers might be inclined to soft-pedal certain stylistic elements to ensure that this doesn't happen. Director Terence Davies is not "some filmmakers". Before a single frame of film is visible, you are already overwhelmed by Samuel Barber's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 14 which Davies has employed in lieu of score. And once there is something on your screen, boy is it LUSH. Cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister's soft, smeary and saturated images ache like a bleeding heart and the blacks are so dense they will swallow you whole. Unlike the self-conscious homage/pastiche of Todd Hayne's Far From Heaven, this is the real deal. A perfect integration of style and substance.
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