Melancholia: "Life Is Only On Earth. And Not For Long"

Director: Lars Von Trier
Writer:    Lars Von Trier 
Starring: Kirsten Dunst
               Charlotte Gainsbourg
               Alexander Skarsgard

               Kiefer Sutherland
               John Hurt
               Cameron Spurr
               Charlotte Rampling
               Stellan Skarsgard
               Brady Corbet
Rating:    ***** 

Home Release: 23/01/12

A fantastic look into a life of depression, heartache, despair and melancholy, all through the marvelous eyes of Lars Von Trier.

The film is split into 2 parts, part 1: Justine. Justine (Dunst) is a young newlywed who is about to set foot at her wedding reception with new husband Michael (A. Skarsgard). The film starts with them both laughing and enjoying each others company, but as the party goes on Justine becomes more and more introvert and sombre. Despite the best efforts of her father (Hurt), it gradually get worse and her new husband can no longer take it and leaves her. Part 2: Claire. Claire (Gainsbourg) is Justine's sister who lives in large mansion with her husband John (Sutherland) and son Leo (Spurr). Justine comes to stay with them as she is now suffering from severe depression, and is unable to wash or feed herself. John who is a keen astronomer spends this part of the film following the path of new planet ,Melancholia, which is set to pass right past Earth. Claire is fearful of the planet as she thinks it is going collide and destroy everything, whereas Justine remains calm and they swap positions with Justine now supporting Claire emotionally. 

John tries his best to reassure her it is safe, but when he discovers that Melancholia is going to slingshot back, he kills himself leaving his family alone. In the final moments before the end of the world, Justine and Leo build a magic cave where they will be safe, and the three of them sit inside the cave and await their fate. The film itself is extremely dark and is a very emotional and hard subject matter, but somehow it manages to be absolutely captivating and strangely hypnotic. For Dunst's first role in quite a while she does an absolute superb job, and her performance is absolutely stunning. In fact both of the starring women give such moving and honest performances that you get completely sucked into their story and become moved by their actions and feelings. They both take their characters on journeys that both stretch their acting abilities, as well as transform the characters to completely different people.

Lars Von Trier (ignoring the whole Nazi-Gate) does an absolutely wonderful job at directing the film, and creating a dreamy and haunting story that highlights the characters darkest flaws and deepest emotions. His decision to use Wagner's prelude to Tristan and Isolde is absolutely inspired, and despite using the same piece of music throughout, each time it plays it brings out a different emotion, and is able to enhance every scene in it's own magical way. The film is out on DVD early next year, and if you are a fan of surreal drama's this is definitely for you.

Melancholia - Trailer

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