Review: MELANCHOLIA (mild spoilers)

MELANCHOLIA (2011)
Dir: Lars Von Trier
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Alexander Skarsgard, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlotte Gainsbourg, John Hurt, Stellan Skarsgard, Charlotte Rampling



Director Lars Von Trier has gotten himself into some hot water with his comments at the Cannes Film Festival this year. (I don't feel the need to reprint them here, but you can easily find them on youtube.) I'm not sure if the controversy affected the marketing or release of Melancholia, but the distance since that incident has probably been a good thing, so that the film can be judged on its own merits come November 11th.

The title, Melancholia, refers to a planet that has been hiding behind the sun throughout all recorded history. It has recently come around in its orbit, which will bring it dangerously close to Earth. The film begins with a prologue where Von Trier treats the audience to beautiful, sublime imagery that fans of 2001: A Space Odyssey or this year's Tree of Life will certainly appreciate.

The story is told in two distinct acts, the first of which centers on Justine (Kirsten Dunst), a young woman losing the battle with depression on what should be the happiest night of her life -- her wedding. It doesn’t take long for things to go wrong as Justine’s father begins a toast by insulting Justine’s mother. Her mother fires back and turns the rude comment into a scene, upsetting Justine. Her sister, Claire, pulls her aside to calm her down, but she is never able to fully recover as each new speed bump of the evening drags her further down into an emotional slump. She tries to fight it, but becomes increasingly aloof, alienating her new husband in the process, and culminating with an outright sabotage of her new marriage.

As director and screenwriter on the film, Von Trier knows that it would be easy to lose his audience here and is careful not to allow the film to become weighed down by its subject matter. He laces the downward spiral of these characters with dark humor, making the scenes both affecting and entertaining. Kirsten Dunst is simply amazing as Justine; it's a performance that is sure to earn her a spot on many end-of-the-year ballots.

The second act focuses on Justine’s sister, Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) as Melancholia approaches Earth. Her husband John (Kiefer Sutherland) is an amateur astronomer who is excited by the opportunity to study this once in a lifetime event. He spends much of his time with their son, gazing through the lens of a telescope, and the rest of it trying to reassure Claire that Melancholia will pass right by Earth, providing them with a beautiful, unique experience. Claire is unconvinced, however, and as the planet grows closer, she becomes more and more unraveled -- horrified by the potential disaster that would take the future away from her child.

Although the second half doesn’t stick as much as the first half, which is a beautifully staged tragedy, there’s a nice symmetry to what Von Trier is doing with the two pieces of the story. In the first half, Claire is portrayed as the “normal” one while Justine is overwhelmed by depression. In the closing half, it is Justine who finds a bizarre calm as she is able to accept her fate, while Claire succumbs to paranoia and fear.

Melancholia is a disaster movie, but not in the conventional sense. Even though the imagery is grand at times, the story is small, staying with the family for the duration of the event. It would be easy for another director to see the need to go larger, more global, but that restraint makes the film better. More characters and a larger scope would hinder the effect of seeing these people react to each other as their worst fears come to fruition.

Von Trier has been open about his own struggle with depression, and the process of writing, shooting, editing, and releasing this film must give him a measure of catharsis. Just by naming the planet Melancholia, the writer/director is exposing this film as pure metaphor for the dread that depression victims suffer from every day. His voice is one of experience and empathy.

Ultimately, the film is surreal, operatic, and tragic. A triumph for Von Trier, whose biggest commercial success in the U.S. was Breaking the Waves way back in 1996 and his most recent film, Antichrist, which divided critics and audiences equally, was handicapped by its jet black subject matter and graphic sexual content. Melancholia will certainly reach a wider audience, especially since Dunst’s work will be highlighted as one of the year’s standout performances.

For those who love films outside of the mainstream, films that may not be as easily digested and forgotten as typical Hollywood fare, Melancholia is highly recommended.