Review

Review Date: 4-December-11
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Just OK

Melancholia (2011)

Melancholia is the latest psychological fantasy about despair, death, and women from controversial filmmaker Lars von Trier. Its two stories are interwoven through the title (which addresses dual themes) and the fact that the protagonists are sisters. The first half of the movie revolves around Justine (Kirsten Dunst), who is introduced as a blooming bride on her wedding day. Her sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and brother-in-law John (Kiefer Sutherland) have given her a lavish reception at their elegant hotel where many guests have gathered to celebrate. Some of them, like the bride's mother and boss, are outrageously cruel, which seems to require an explanation that never comes. As the party progresses it becomes clear that Justine too can be cruel, as her depression prevents her from enjoying married happiness even for one night. The second half of the movie shifts the focus to Claire, who is a much more stable and nurturing person. On top of being a wife and mother, she is now the caretaker (presumably not for the first time) of a sister too depressed even to bathe herself. Her responsibilities are made heavier by worry about the new planet, Melancholia, which has emerged from behind the sun and is moving in their direction. Although John is fascinated by this cosmic development and assures her that Melancholia will not collide with Earth, Claire can't shake the feeling that the end is nigh. It doesn't help that Justine confirms this fear with the creepy surety of the madman.

While considering the connection between these two stories, I am struck by a vision which is in keeping with the movie's intermittent black humor. By all accounts von Trier's mental state might suggest a certain baked good associated with Christmas, so I see him thinking up the movie after a frustrated friend or family member tells him for the thousandth time that his stupid problems aren't the end of the world. The movie practically equates (lower-case) melancholia with a higher plane of awareness and in-tuneness with the universe and provides the exact situation where such a quality would be useful. Justine may fail by common standards that include rituals like marriage, but she heroically embraces (upper-case) Melancholia while Claire and John panic in the face of it. (Not just heroically but artistically; she sheds her clothes to bathe her beautiful nakedness in the killer planet's blue light.) Imagining the destruction of all life for the sake of elevating one's own depression is a tad presumptuous. So while the acting won my admiration, and the images of the approaching planet tickled my fancy, my overwhelming reaction to Melancholia is the wish that von Trier would get over himself.

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