Melancholia (limited/VOD)
| release date | November 11 2011 |
| studio | Magnolia Pictures |
| director | Lars von Trier |
| writer | Lars von Trier |
| starring | Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlotte Rampling, Alexander Skarsgaard, Stellan Skarsgard, Udo Kier, John Hurt |
| site | melancholiathemovie.com |
| trailer 1 | Trailer #1 |
1 Comments
Couldn’t agree more with Mr. Disgusting. One of the best of the year. Anti-Christ, Melancholia, back to back would be an insane double feature.
Justine and Michael, newly-married, hold a lavish wedding reception on a magnificent but remote estate owner by Justine’s sister, Claire, and her husband, John. Approximately 600 light-years away, the supergiant star, Antares in the constellation Scorpius (foreshadowing!) has gone supernova and has blasted a giant blue planet, called “Melancholia,” towards our solar system, intersecting the orbital path of Earth.
The film is divided into two parts, following the duality theme Lars von Trier repeats often throughout the film. The first part, named “Justine,” focuses on Justine’s descent into existential depression and anxiety on and shortly after her wedding reception; as always, her sister Claire is there to observe and care for her as Melancholia speeds towards our solar system and is predicted to narrowly miss the Earth.
The second half of the film, titled “Claire,” stays with the two sisters as Melancholia passes by the Earth, as predicted by the scientific John, but circles back around and follows the Earth’s orbit on a collision course. As obviously Melancholia becomes larger in the sky and the reality of John’s error settles upon the sisters, it is Claire’s turn to spiral into despair as Justine, now calm, collected, but utterly nihilistic, prepares her sister and her family for the end of the world.
Do I recommend this film? Most definitely yes, especially on the big screen where the film will have a fantastic impact. (No pun intended.) But this is a very grave movie not to be watched carelessly at a matinÃ
Honestly this movie is pretty boring. Its basically watching 2 girls for 2 hours slowly lose their minds before the world ends. I don’t recommend it.
“Melancholia” is a chilling and pretty depressing, but also highly satisfying and strangely uplifting sci-fi drama about a wedding gone wrong, the difficult relationship between 2 sisters and the planet Melancholia which is about to destroy planet Earth.
It’s far from being Lars von Trier’s best work but it’s still a fabulous and powerful piece of Euro cinema.
The movie consists of 2 parts:
Part 1 which concentrates on the depressive Justine and her disastrous wedding party,
and Part 2 about Justine’s sister Claire and the end of the world (um… not as we know it).
The first part is typically Trier-esque: sinister, depressing, pretty painful to watch and for the greater part absolutely mindblowing. The 2nd part sadly isn’t as intense and intriguing but at least it’s visually incredibly stunning.
The opening intro which consists of impressive dream-like slow-motion sequences is one of the visually most striking things since Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” and the beautiful ending is a huge ‘Fuck You’ into Emmerich and his unbearable doom-and-gloom-scenarios.
Best of all, the acting.
Every single actor delivers an unbelievably amazing performance, especially the gorgeous Kirsten Dunst as depressive young woman, the wonderful Charlotte Gainsbourg as fearful mother, Kiefer Sutherland as her annoying husband, a hilarious John Hurt, a magnificent Stellan SkarsgÃ
I must of watched a different movie then everybody here and MR. D saw. Because what I saw was a boring 2hr and 10 min movie of nothing. Just stupid talk a lame ass wedding. Kirsten dunst bathing and getting naked for odd reasons the whole fuckin movies. Followed by some weird funny shit. I do not hate lars, I only hated that this movie wasn’t what I was expecting at all I knew it would be slow. I didn’t want an action movie at all. But IDK it just wasn’t good the opening scene and closing scene were amazing.
Was very weird! Itâe(TM)s a very impressive movie about the end of the world. The film focuses on two parts âe~Justineâe(TM) played by Kirsten Dunst and âe~Claireâe(TM) played by Charlotte Gainsbourg. The prologue of the film is just outstanding, and the final few minutes of the film will blow you away. The film may be slow, but itâe(TM)s definitely worth watching.
Hands down it was the most artistically stunning film of 2011 and Kirsten Dunst gave a heart shattering performance and never looked better and it was a wonderous beauty of filmmaking I’ve ever seen. It raises alot of questions and less than enough answers and becomes more and more frustrating as the film goes on and it never clearly gives any insights of any of the characters other than Justine played by Kirsten Dunst is mentally ill and has a strained relationship with her sister Claire who always cleans her personal mess up which is distressing through the whole film and on top of that it my be the end of the world as they know it as a planet that has been hidden behind the sun for some time might collide with earth wiping it out forever, dread ensues. There is not really a clear point to this movie but it kept me fascinated the whole way through but it’s a very, very escentric film and definitely not for all tastes but the way that it was brought to life is something of a masterpiece that will be more appreciated through time and though it’s a step up from Lars von Trier other effort Antichrist it still has the same WTF element that doesn’t rub off or sit well for me and has no cohesive plot or logic to the whole film but an mesmerizing beauty to the eyes and he always seems to get fearless, complicated performances out of his talentented casts but wastes them on muddled plots and executions of ideas. Overall it’s like a doomsday version of the director’s other film Antichrist and though visually grander than that film if you weren’t that much of a fan of it you won’t be that much of a fan of his latest effort Melancholia, rent it though for the visual experience that’s out of this world and for that alone I’m surprised that it didn’t get any oscar noms but other than that NOT RECOMMENDED!
Wow, what a beautiful film. It’s hard to put into words how I feel about Melancholia. Dunst and Gainsbourg both gave amazing, moving performances. I have never felt so moved by a films depiction of extreme depression, with no better word, it was heartbreaking. The opening scenes use of ultra- slow motion (much like in AntiChrist) was gorgeous, and the ending was also stunning. It’s obvious that due to the slow storytelling this film won’t be for everyone, and my interpretation of the films events may be completely different than others. But give it a shot, I hope it hits you the same as it did me. Enjoy.
After The Stunning Antichrist this was such a let down for me – The Wedding section was pointless and frustrating – The Second half (part 2) i felt was much stronger and i enjoyed it more. The Two biggest let downs for me this year The Tree of Life and Now Melancholia.
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Writer/Director Lars Von Trier is one of the most polarizing and discussed filmmakers working today, and a lot of it has nothing to do with his movies. Is he a genius or a pompous douche bag? An endlessly talented artist or ego maniacal freak? The Danish director has had several internationally acclaimed films from “Breaking the Waves” and “Dancer in the Dark” to “Dogville” and “Manderlay”. His most controversial film has been 2009′s “Antichrist” (which I have also reviewed). His Cannes Film Festival press conferences have been stuff of idiotic legend, as he can’t seem to stop making bizarre and offensive remarks. I’ll let you Google the rest of the story if your interested, lets get down to business with “Melancholia”
“Melancholia” is his latest opus and while not as controversial as “Antichrist” it keeps some of the same dark and disturbing themes. Kirsten Dunst won Best Actress at Cannes this year for her role as Justine, a severely depressed woman who is getting married. Justine’s sister Claire is played by “Antichrist” star Charlotte Gainsbourg. The cast also features Kiefer Sutherland, John Hurt, Charlotte Rampling & Stellan Skarsgard. The film is presented in two parts named after the sisters with Part 1 being “Justine” and Part 2 being “Claire”. All of the drama is held under the threat of global destruction as a rogue blue planet named Melancholia is on a collision course with Earth.
Everything takes place within a gigantic estate that seems cut off from the rest of civilization. The tone and feel of the film is pretty heavy and dark. Justine’s extreme depression has been a burden on everyone for years, with Claire being the only person to really take care of her. With the wedding being a last ditch effort to bring joy and happiness to her life. The first part of the film takes place during the reception.
The only thing Justine takes solace in is that the world will soon be ending. With the planet Melancholia visible in the sky, getting bigger as it approaches, Justine seems to form a sort of cosmic bond with it. Could this be her savior? Claire on the other hand is married to John (Sutherland) and has a little boy. She is racked with terror and anxiety at Earths impending doom. John is a sort of amateur astronomer and keeps telling her that the threat will pass, knowing full well that we are pretty much screwed.
“Melancholia” like a lot of Von Trier’s films is filled with symbolism and layers of meaning. Two sisters colliding, two planets colliding. Justine’s severe depression also closely follows Von Trier’s own such proclaimed depression. Justine at one moment tells Claire “The Earth is evil” “Life on Earth is evil” “Nobody will miss it”. This movie is dark, depressing and oddly beautiful and intriguing. To see this movie it is showing on several on demand services and will be coming soon to theatres.
“Melancholia” begins with a stunning montage of beautiful images, all somehow connected. They are meant to act as a sort of moving scrapbook for the end of the world; at the end of it all, we see a planet collide with our own, incinerating everything on it, perhaps even the water. Before that, we get extreme slow motion imagery such as a woman clutching her infant child as she walks across what looks like a golf course, another woman observing as a mysterious energy is summoned from her fingertips, the same woman trudging through a forest of thick vines and weeds in a white wedding dress, a horse falling to its death, and then some. What makes the viewer connect almost instantly with what’s being shown on-screen is the decision to put Richard Wagner’s Tristand Und Isolde on the soundtrack. A lovely and tragically whimsical song to accompany lovely and tragically whimsical visual representations of pain, loss, mystery, death, and eventually the annihilation of an entire planet. This eight-minute sequence alone sets the film right up; you’ll either want to turn it off by the time it’s over, or you’ll be in a sort of trance. Once it was over and the explanation to these images – the story – was about to begin, I’d have to say I was quite entranced by what I had just experienced.
After the opening scenes, there is a wedding reception. It’s big, fancy, and quite expensive. The bride is the beautiful Justine (Kirsten Dunst), and the groom is a handsome man named Michael (Alexander Skarsgard). They arrive late to the event; which upsets Justine’s sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and her husband John (Kiefer Sutherland). Both have been preparing for the night that is now upon them for days; they’ve even given up their house to fit all the guests and family members in all at once. Once the newlyweds arrive, the reception can finally begin. As the night progresses, troublesome toasts from the parents (John Hurt and Charlotte Rampling) and vexing, frequent encounters with her boss at work (for an ad company) overwhelm Justine; and she tries her hand at escaping all the drinking and the dancing and the partying. Needless to say, both Claire and John notice; and Claire encourages her sister to lighten up, a suggestion which doesn’t end up working out for the best. Alas, the night ends with a rather grim discovery; that is a strange, unidentifiable planet in the night sky.
That’s the first half of the film. The second half focuses primarily on the days that follow the disappointing and uneventful reception. Justine, who remains depressed beyond belief for the next few days, stays at the mansion with Claire, John, and their young son Leo. After Justine explains that she cannot get the odd star off her mind, it’s soon explained that it isn’t so much a star at all; but rather the planet from the opening sequenced. It is called Melancholia, rather ironically; and the fact that it is slowly moving towards earth (thus promising inevitable planetary destruction) only contributes to Justine’s long list of emotionally distressing problems. Soon, Claire becomes impacted by the incoming planet; and it’s only a matter of time before she’s no better than her sister in terms of her mental and emotional well-being. John, on the other hand, remains surprisingly enthusiastic in the meantime; fascinated by what he can see of the planet through his fancy-looking telescope. Leo finds all this stuff intriguing as well.
The film was written and directed by Lars Von Trier; a man of great fame and infamy alike. He is known for directing films that challenge and dare the viewer, consistently. I wouldn’t say he’s a total provocateur, since his films tend to be very attached to his own inner emotions (he reportedly suffers from long periods of deep, dark depression from time-to-time). Nevertheless, he’s shaken me up before; and look at that, he’s done it again. “Melancholia” sees the director yet again crafting a very personal project; telling a story that was inspired by something said by a therapist during a session at the last mental hospital in which Von Trier stayed during one of his prolonged “episodes”. On paper, I suppose the film might sound like a disaster movie; but Von Trier understands that we have Roland Emmerich for those, and instead he’s made a movie that’s less about accurate astrophysics and scientific observations and more about the study of depression, sadness, and desperation itself. With his visual style that consists mostly of hand-held techniques and jump cut editing – not to mention some very pretty CGI shots -, Von Trier hopes to earn our sympathy, for these characters, and for their situation. I don’t think I could have survived that first night, given my social anxiety, and if I knew that the world was going to end sometime soon and there was nothing I could do to stop the catastrophic event, I might not make it past the first day on which I acquired such information and thoughts.
As you can probably tell, this isn’t a feel-good film. In fact, it’s designed to make you feel like absolute and utter shit for every last second that you’re watching it. Well, aside from those beautiful images at the beginning; one can only elicit positive emotions from such a thing. But what I’m saying is that this is what I envisioned an end of the world movie with Lars Von Trier at the helm would look and feel like. It’s an unforgettable and emotionally resonant cinematic experience. It has some of the best cinematography and employment of location I’ve seen in a long, long time; and the performances (particular that of Dunst, who has never been so good) are top-notch. In the end, I’m left with so much to talk about; I can’t cover it all in a single review. What I know is that I loved every last moment of this depressing but masterfully staged mood piece. You could even say that I found it to be awesome (awe-inspiring), if only because the images and the music (Von Trier seems to evoke his ethnic roots with the German operatic soundtrack) mesh together so flawlessly. I can’t say whether you should see “Melancholia” or not; you will either admire it, or you will hate every second spent watching it. Luckily, unlike the melancholic and hopeless characters of the film, we have time to make up our minds.