All that Heaven Allows

The movie All that Heaven Allows is a very good example of a melodramatic movie.  I strongly think that the music and lighting choice in the film helps add to the very dramatic effect.  During some scenes the music becomes very slow and dark and weary and prepares you for the intense conversations the characters are going to have.  It is especially seen at the scene when Cary is talking to her Son about her relationship with Ron.  Without the music, it would feel less intense and not as dramatic of a scene as it was.  In the book, "Genre, Style, and Sensibility" they talk about how the lighting in the movie symbolizes different things like "Cary's revelation that her love for Ron is doomed"(Mercer and Shingler page 56).  Because of the dimmed lighting you feel as though something bad or dramatic is going to happen.  If it was a bright light that could have symbolized good but since some of the lighting throughout the movie is dimmed that gives the movie a dramatic effect.