Melancholia is a film
about the end of world like no other. Escaping the typical Hollywood disaster
movie scenes of public panic,
Lars von Trier latest masterpiece focuses on the
emotions of two very different sisters faced with the extinction of the human
race on earth – and therefore the end of their lives.
The first part of Melancholia
focuses on Justine, played by Kirsten Dunst, winner of the Cannes Festival best actress award for the role. About to get married in a slim
attempt to fit in the norm, Justine lives tortured by her inability to adjust to her sister’s
upper middle-class lifestyle. She attends her own wedding all smiles and
politeness, but becomes mesmerized by the strange planet melancholia, lost in
space and slowly moving towards earth. And as the day goes by, depression sets in
and Justine withdraws from her attempt to conform and settle in the married
life that society demands of her. The second part of the film focuses on
Claire, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg, Justine’s older sister, a wife and
mother, and a woman who has incorporated the common rituals of society, taking
charge of the perfect wedding party to please her baby sister. After Justine
falls into deep depression, Claire sweetly takes care of her in spite of her
husband’s criticism (played by Kiefer Sutherland). But when it becomes clear
that Melancholia will collide with earth, it is sober Claire who loses her
cool, while depressed Justine rapidly becomes collected and prepared for the
end.
As for us, the viewers, we are presented with visual displays of
desperation and beauty, many in slow motion and accompanied by the music of
Wagner. And we are left with that melancholic feeling that makes us wonder:
what if the world comes to an end? How would I take that in? Would I be a
Justine, or a Claire?