In this extensive analysis of the renewed popularity?of the 'woman's film' in the 1990s,?Roberta Garrett?examines melodrama, romantic comedy, costume drama and female-led noirs ,?revealing the way they?blend classical and contemporary themes and formal devices.List of Film Stills Acknowledgements Introduction Postmodernism, New Hollywood and Women's Films The Early 1990s 'Postmodernist' Melodrama: Female Virtue in the Consumer Age Romantic Comedy and Female Spectatorship Costume Drama, Historiography and Women's History Neo- Noir and Noir-Lite : Masculinity and Postmodernist Aesthetics in New Retro- Noir Conclusion Bibliography IndexROBERTA GARRETT is a Senior Lecturer in Literature and Cultural Studies at the University of East London, UK. She has published in the areas of film and cultural theory.