Too Much is our winter season of screenings and events celebrating films that are unashamedly emotional.
We are proud to be part of the BFI’s UK-wide celebration of melodrama this November and December. With exaggerated staging, score and performance, melodrama tells intimate and familial stories concerned with women’s inner lives yet has repeatedly been dismissed by critics who find the outpouring of emotion "too much"!
But beneath the glossy veneer of these films there’s a searing social commentary; imperfectly feminist yet endlessly relatable.The Electric Palace is set to embrace the vivid visual language and heightened dramatics of this form of cinema, inviting you to leave your cynicism at the door and feel something.
No, we won't calm down!
Enjoy screenings of classic, high-camp and emotionally intense films from all eras, with some events organised by local young film curators. More to be announced in the coming weeks. Keep up to date with all the news via our enewsletter (sign up below).
Events coming up in the season:
Far From Heaven
Saturday 8 November, 3pm
In 1950s Connecticut, a flustered housewife faces a marital crisis and mounting racial tensions in the outside world. Todd Haynes' extraordinary homage to the 'women's' picture.
Book now for FAR FROM HEAVEN >>
Zine and Badge Making Workshop
Saturday 8 November, 2.30pm
Get creative at a special afternoon of melodrama-inspired 'zine and badge-making session, led by local artist Tiger-lily Martinez and inspired by Too Much.
Book now for ZINE AND BADGE-MAKING >>
All That Heaven Allows - 70th Anniversary
Sunday 9 November, 3pm
Swoony-yet-socially-searing May-December romance with Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman. Director Douglas Kirk chose melodramas (seen then as soapy concoctions for female audiences) as vehicles for social critiques, subtly dissecting prejudice and avarice. He has influenced directors including Pedro Almodóvar, Todd Haynes and Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
Book now for ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS >>
Solo + drag show
Saturday 15 November, 7.30pm
High-octane romance set in Montreal's drag scene.Théodore Pellerin delivers a career-defining performance in the groundbreaking role of Simon. With drag performance by Kally.
Johnny Guitar + introduction
Sunday 16 November, 3pm
A thrilling Western, a showcase of two phenomenal actresses, and a film that challenges conventions at every possible turn. It's feverish, delirious, and one of the great historical examples of queer coding.
I, Tonya - Co-curated and hosted by Young Electrics
Saturday 29 November 7.30pm
Margot Robbie gives a fantastically uninhibited performance as Tonya Harding, the blue-collar, black-hearted figure skater, who - at the very least - covered up her ex-husband’s assault on rival Nancy Kerrigan. A modern-day Mommie Dearest!
Mildred Pierce + intro
Sunday 30 November, 3pm
What Veda wants, Veda gets! Joan Crawford won an Oscar for her portrayal of Mildred, a hard working mother inching towards disaster to satisfy the demands of her spoiled daughter. "I'll do anything," Mildred says. But does anything include murder?
The launch of our our classic cocktail club Silver Screen Sippers. Each screening includes an introduction plus complementary movie-star cocktail to go along with the film screening! (Standard tickets are available without a cocktail). Hosted by author, archivist and DJ, Jenny Hammerton.
Book now for MILDRED PIERCE >>
The Notebook - Co-curated and hosted by Young Electrics
Saturday 13 December 7.30pm
Despite falling in love, a young couple (Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams) separate due to class differences. Years later they reunite and confront their enduring feelings. It’s all sunsets, period hairdos and smouldering staring.
Brief Encounter
Saturday 14 December, 3pm
Laura Jesson, a jaded suburban wife, meets Dr Alec Harvey at a railway station while on a shopping trip to a nearby town. Their relationship develops through mixed emotions and difficult choices.The most stiff-upper lipped British classic! It might seem too mawkish to be considered melodrama and yet it has all the key issues that make the genre important.
Book now for BRIEF ENCOUNTER >>
Too Much: Melodrama on Film is a UK-wide celebration of exaggerated staging, score and performance to create the ultimate spectacle.
Melodrama tells intimate and familial stories, a rare cinematic form that concerns itself with women's inner lives repeatedly dismissed by critics that found the outpouring of emotion "too much" and yet these films and the legacy of 'womens' pictures' carry searing social commentary beneath a glossy veneer.
Imperfectly feminist yet endlessly relatable, come to the cinema to reconsider what, if anything, is "too much".
Supported by BFI FAN and National Lottery funding and co-curated by Young Electrics.
Keep up to date with all the events at the Electric Palace as they unfold via our enewsletter: