
A movie or novel can tackle heavy, tear-jerking topics like domestic abuse, yet somehow manage to elicit unintended chuckles or sighs of frustration. For instance, the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s acclaimed novel, “It Ends With Us,” aims to touch all the right emotional chords. As you might know, this story is based on a harsh reality that many people prefer not to acknowledge – domestic abuse, which unfortunately is more common than we care to admit, with Hoover drawing inspiration from her own mother’s experiences. Movies like “It Ends With Us” are crucial because they provide a platform for emotional release, serving as a sanctuary where viewers can let it all out. This genre, often referred to as the “woman’s film,” has been around since the 1930s and beyond, films such as “Stella Dallas” (1937) by King Vidor or both versions of “Imitation of Life,” filmed first in 1934 by John Stahl and later in 1959 by Douglas Sirk. These movies were popular back then because they offered a safe space for emotional expression, allowing women, as well as men, to weep it all out. And isn’t the cinema, with its dark surroundings, an ideal location for that?