Melancholia: Movie Review

Melancholia

Cast:  Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg

Writer and Director:  Lars Von Trier.

**'s out of four

Mel-an-cho-li-a

1.

a mental condition characterized by great depression of spirits and gloomy forebodings.

2.

Psychiatry . endogenous depression.

(Txt From Dictionary.com)

It seems fitting that both Justine(Kirsten Dunst)  is on an emotional downfall right around the same time a planet called Melancholia is about to crash into Earth  Now why scientist have decided to name a planet after a mental condition is beyond me.  I won't even go into why they wouldn't think it would crash into them with a name like Melancholia either.  This film has been gathering a lot of good reviews and it won Kirsten Dunst a best actress award at Cannes.  Hmm it seems like a lot of women that star in Von Trier's pictures win at Cannes including Bjork("Dancer in The Dark") and Charlotte Gainsbourg.("Antichrist").  One can really appreciate a disaster movie that is focused more on the feelings of the characters rather than show you a bunch of effects.  I just wished that it had characters I cared more about.





When the movie opens we are treated to a very beautiful destruction of Earth.   There are images you could take from this prologue and hang them in a museum and I would pay to see them.  They are that good. I'm glad the movie shows us the destruction at the start so that there is no confusion at what will happen at the end.   The movie than breaks into two parts.   Part 1 focuses on Justine's wedding and the complications that arrive due to her serious depression issues.  Part 2 is about Claire's(Charlotte Gainsbourg) reaction to Earth colliding with the other planet.  Both sections deal with characters facing their own death. For Justine she knows about the planet's destruction right away and feels like her life on earth was a waste.  Claire on the other hand has a very good life and is saddened that she won't get to continue with it.  It's just too bad the movie never gave me any moments that showed any of these character emotions.



This is a movie I will have to check out again soon, but  I was not that impressed after seeing this. Yes it's beautiful to look at, but the story is not really there and I found the characters completely boring.  This has been the only Lars Von Trier movie I have not liked and I have liked all of his other flicks. The ending of  "Dancer In The Dark" nearly destroyed me when I watched it, so I know he can do emotional work.  If you do go and see this and wonder why you should stay til the end.  There are some really impressive visuals and Kirsten Dunst does gets naked.