#11 Melodrama
Love and reindeers
I’m writing about my creative adventures, inspired by Julia Cameron’s idea of ‘Artist Dates’. She describes these as “solo expeditions to do something that enchants or interests you.” These dates replenish my energy, spark new ideas, help me tune into the seasons, and make me feel braver in the world. I hope they inspire you, too.
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My goodness, the BFI in London has a season of melodrama films!
There’s Brief Encounter, of course, and Sunset Boulevard, but my favourite so far has been All that Heaven Allows from 1955 with Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson. It has an amazing swelling orchestral soundtrack, lots of emotional moments and, at the end, a reindeer that seems to smile kindly onto Cary and Ron, our two protagonists.
The story is a romance between a society widow and a woodsman who is good at identifying trees, is often sawing or sanding objects. They meet, they laugh, she pours him coffee from a fancy pot, he tells her how special the birches are in her garden, and they fall in love. Every interaction is dramatic, either heartbreaking or ecstatic.
Shot in Technicolor, colour sings in the film, dominated by red and blue. She wears red lipstick, he has red shirts. Red flowers and furnishings fill her home. It’s passion, it’s danger, it’s love. While his blue shirts and the window light are often pale blues suggesting calm, distance, constraint. In the final happy scenes, lovely shades of festive pink soften everything beautifully.
A great film on gender and class and community and love, but more than that, I had the pleasure of a solitary cinema trip. A soft seat just for me, laughing aloud to the dialogue, then laughing with the other woman alone a few rows ahead, both of us accompanied by so much popcorn. Wonderful!
November 2025. This short dispatch is by me, Gemma Seltzer. I run Write & Shine, a programme of early morning writing workshops. Coming soon: Our December Festival of events inspired by fairy tales, myths and folklore!
Explore Too Much: Melodrama on Film at the BFI here!