Review of Melancholia (2011) by Jeroen V — 15 Dec 2013

Lars von Trier is a bit Marmitey I suppose and I can't claim to have followed his career that closely but, when I have seen his TV programmes and films, I have rather liked them if I've not always quite followed what was going on.

Melancholia carries on in this tradition. It looks stunning and feels opulent and indulgent but there are parts that I'm not sure quite work or are satisfactorily resolved. As a take on the disaster movie genre, it is as different as it is possible to be.

Considering that the world gets destroyed at the end (and seeing as this is kind of revealed by the stunningly beautiful opening montage I really don't think I've given anything away there) there's a remarkable lack of the usual cliches.

There must have been something in the air in 2011 as this movie was released at pretty much the same time as Another Earth, which also dealt with the effects on a young woman of an approaching planetary encounter.

Here however, we have a pair of sisters, one of whom at her wedding, is in a very fragile mental state, the other something of a control freak. As the planet Melancholia hurtles towards Earth and the sisters lives crumble, strengths and weaknesses are exposed and roles become reversed.

Kirsten Dunst shows a power that I never realised she had as the depressive and confused Justine with Charlotte Gainsbourg matching her as Claire, the seemingly stronger sibling. There's a great supporting cast playing the parts of oddball characters whose antics, at times, I felt hindered rather than moved the plot as this film really worked best when the two leads were alone together.

This film drips with scandinavian noir and weirdness and has a plot which clearly owes a deal to von Trier's own depressive personality as it weighs heavily on the mood. You won't come away from seeing this movie with an uplifting smile or a spring in your step but I think you'll know you've seen something that is trying to say something about some of the darker shades of the human condition even if you don't quite get the whole.