Melancholia
2011 · Directed by Lars von Trier
Original language: English
- drama
- science fiction
The story
Two sisters find their already strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide with Earth.
What it’s like
Slow, painterly compositions dominate: long static shots, often with a handheld camera drifting close in, and a sumptuous palette of deep blues, greens and gold set against stark white. The first section plays out inside a remote country estate in a crisp, bright, almost hallucinatory light, with a glossy, over-decorated wedding unfolding in extended takes. Later the image darkens into a silvery, dread-soaked blue, lit by a rogue planet's ghostly glow, and the score, Wagner's opening prelude to Tristan und Isolde, swells across near silence. The mood is heavy, dreamlike and fatalistic, with long stretches of stillness that feel like waiting for something unbearable. Its emotional register is bleak but intimate, following two sisters whose fragile bond is tested as the world edges toward its end, and whose arcs move from brittle composure toward an eerie kind of acceptance. Intensity is high in tone rather than action: depression and suicide are explored, there is some nudity and sexual content, and the apocalypse is shown without gore or violence. For adult viewers who want slow, austere art cinema and can sit with despair, not for anyone seeking comfort.
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