The latest work by the perennially controversial director Lars von Trier, “Melancholia” pieces together the final days leading to the end of the world, when Earth collides into the title planet, previously hidden behind the sun. Divided into two parts, the movie traces the coming apocalypse through the stories of two sisters, Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg).
Starting with a bubbly comic scene, Part I initially presents Justine as an innocently happy, charmingly whimsical woman, who attempts to drive in her fluffy dress and dashes to look at her horse even when she was two hours late for her own wedding hosted in Claire's grand chateau. However, her facade soon fades away. As tension ferments at the reception, ugly realities sink in: her wasted father, her domineering and antisocial mother, her bewildered husband, her power-hungry employer and the micromanaging, frowning Claire with whom Justine has a love-hate relationship. Overcame with frustration and fear Justine treads through the disastrous night, offending her boss, alienating her husband and exploiting a young colleague for sex on the nearby golf course. Built on soft dialogues and restraint,Kirsten Dunst's provocative depiction of a depressant woman on the verge of shattering highlights the numbness that grows out of Justine's brittleness and exhaustion. Yet through sharp emotional episodes betraying Justine's spite, Dunst captivatingly coats her character with an even grimmer layer: selfishness, self-imploding attitude and disregard for respect. Justine's only consistent interest of the night sky leads her to realize that a red star, Antares, has disappeared.Justine's only consistent interest of the night sky leads her to realize that a red star, Antares, has disappeared.Justine's only consistent interest of the night sky leads her to realize that a red star, Antares, has disappeared.
The phenomenon is quickly explained in a dialogue between Claire and her husband John in Part II. As it turns out, Antares is eclipsed by Melancholia, which is rapidly approaching Earth. Claire worries that Melancholia might crash into Earth, but John, an astronomy fan who excitedly sets up his telescope to observe Melancholia's supposed near-pass, assures her that it will not happen. Meanwhile they take in Justine again, who has become too depressed to perform daily functions such as taking a bath and eating. As Justine recovers, the fear of total obliteration starts to overwhelm Claire. Her panic reaches a peak on the night when Melancholia is calculated by scientists to brush past Earth and then deflates when she believes that the ominous planet has traveled away. Yet on the next day,Melancholia in a “dance of death” circles right back into Earth's path. After John's suicide, she is finally pushed over the edge. Witnessing her sister sliding into complete loss and frenzy, Justine remains calm and undisturbed. In a prophetic air, she unveils her utter disgust with the world. “All I know is life on Earth is evil,” she spits into Claire's pleading eyes. To give Claire's son solace, she helps him build a “magic cave” as his imaginary haven with branches. Then the remaining three of them get inside: the boy obedient with closed eyes, Claire distraught and broken and Justine moved but collected, as inferno devours them and every other bit of life.In a prophetic air, she unveils her utter disgust with the world. “All I know is life on Earth is evil,” she spits into Claire's pleading eyes. To give Claire's son solace, she helps him build a “magic cave” as his imaginary haven with branches. Then the remaining three of them get inside: the boy obedient with closed eyes, Claire distraught and broken and Justine moved but collected, as inferno devours them and every other bit of life.In a prophetic air, she unveils her utter disgust with the world. “All I know is life on Earth is evil,” she spits into Claire's pleading eyes. To give Claire's son solace, she helps him build a “magic cave” as his imaginary haven with branches. Then the remaining three of them get inside: the boy obedient with closed eyes, Claire distraught and broken and Justine moved but collected, as inferno devours them and every other bit of life.as inferno devours them and every other bit of life.as inferno devours them and every other bit of life.
Then a monumental silence.
Oh no - did I just spoil the movie? But you would have known the ending right from the eerie yet visually spectacular prologue, in which super-slow motion stretches every scene into postcard-worthy images: electricity growing out of Justine's fingers like antennas milliseconds before a lightning, golf greens sucking in Claire's feet as she tried to escape with her son, the drably-colored opening close-up of Justine's face behind which birds falls from the sky and, surprise surprise, the final image of Earth shredded asunder upon impact. Mesmerized by the warping of time and the almost fairytale-like occurrences, I could not help but recalling “The Tree of Life.” Reeking of gloom yet at times breathtakingly exquisite, “Melancholia” owns a less ambitious but equally impressive majesty,focusing on the powerlessness and unreliability of humanity in a shorter timeline than the chronicle of Terence Malick's opus. Though the dramatic tricks at the wedding reception and toward the end taste slightly stale, “Melancholia” also refreshingly leaves out the mass commotion, media turmoil and wistful romance that commonly dominates other end-of-the-world tales. This is not an exaltation or even elegy of heroism either, as its sadistic mockery of hope and control, both embodied by the ever-pragmatic Claire, blasts high with Richard Wagner's opera “Tristan and Isolde” when her composure crumbles. As the impending doom pumps up our adrenalin, the roles of the sisters are reversed: knocked to her utmost feebleness, Claire turns to the fatalistic Justine, who after torment by her own melancholia readily accepts their fate.With her bitterness almost transformed to indifference, she does not become emotional until the very end.
So why would you want to watch a movie that grips your heart with despair? For me, the reasons were the relief it gave me that life goes on, the stunning power of visuals, sounds and a thrilling plot that slices open the chambers of naked humanity, the juicy performances of Dunst and Gainsbourg (who won Cannes Festival Best Actress Award in 2009 with von Trier's previous feature “Antichrist”) and the imagination of our ending that never ceases to fascinate. But the singular attraction was this: revolved by the preposterous, the futile and the wildly disturbing, "Melancholia" is an elegantly crystalline tragedy. The power of broken beauty, or the beauty of the broken, tucks us in. And that, my reader, is precisely what "Melancholia" is all about .
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To be published 11-30-11, The Amherst Student
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