Melancholia

So I finally saw it; this movie everyone's been raving about with Kirsten Dunst's Cannes winning performance. The movie has grossed almost $10 million worldwide, with most of it being foreign earnings. I'm not that up to date with Lars Von Trier's work but I did immensely enjoy Dogville from several years ago. 


The plot is somewhat original and interesting in that it follows two sisters as another planet approaches earth in a so called 'death dance' that will result in the destruction of both planets. 


While the plot premise at face values suggests that this might be an armageddon-type end of the world apocalyptic movie. However, knowing Von Trier of course this cannot be taken at face value. Now I won't claim to understand all of the symbolism and meaning in Von Trier's movies but here's my stab at it. The two sisters in the movie are very well written with one representing optimism and the other cynicism. Or, not exactly cynicism but rather a view of the world matter-of-factly and the sort of detachment that accompanies this type of view. The oncoming planet to me represents turmoil, disaster, war, the economy, etc. It's just this looming ball of destruction and how our two sisters deal with it's presence in their lives. The one sister, Justine (Dunst), attempts and fails to create any real attachments during the first part of the movie when Melancholia is still a distant star. However, when the planet is obviously on a collision course with earth, Justine is quite calm and prepared for this type of disaster, inadvertently becoming the strong sister. While Claire on the other hand, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg, is optimistic about the world and works hard to help her sister in the beginning. When Melancholia approaches, she begins to heavily rely on others for her own peace of mind and eventually becomes frantic at the reality of the world which is looming upon them. I think this shows how much each sister is connected and attached to the world they are living in. 

The opening sequence of the film is my favorite; highly stylized and beautiful. We're presented with several slow motion sequences showing us how the movie will end. Action and dialogue is given equal screen time in the movie, which is something I usually enjoy. I find it frustrating when movies jump from dialogue to dialogue without showing how the characters arrived there or what they did in between. Life is not filled with constant dialogue. 


Kirsten Dunst won best actress at Cannes for her role. I've always enjoyed her as an actress and she does superb in this movie as well. I was expecting something over-the-top in this role because of all the talk about it, however it was much more subdued and melancholy :). I'm surprised I haven't heard more about Gainsbourg's performance. I thought she did equally as amazing. Perhaps I empathized more with her character being a mother, but I think she deserves more credit. Stellan Skarsgard was also a pleasure to watch. Yes, I watch True Blood, but he did a good job in his role and played the character much differently than Eric. 

This is a movie that sticks with you. It's got lots of symbolism and I'm sure much deeper meaning than my mind can encompass. It is a Von Trier film so it's not for everyone. He is a stylized film-maker. His films are works of art. If you want to just escape into a story, this one's not for you although this does have a chronological plot. I think at it's core level this movie shows us different ways people deal with the truth of the world, whatever that truth may be. Some of us hide it completely and can't deal with the pressure when the truth comes out, others embrace the knowledge of the truth and therefore lose their connection with the world around them, and some cling to their connection with others to deal with their different emotions about the truth. It's an interesting film nonetheless. "It cost an arm and a leg . . . for most people"