Melancholia (2011)

Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alexander Skarsgard, Kiefer Sutherland

Directed by: Lars Von Trier 

Genre: Drama/Apocalypse

Rating: Must See
Just Two Cents: "Enjoy it while it lasts." Depressingly yet intriguingly, I did enjoy Melancholia while it lasted.

Summary: Melancholia examines a meteor colliding towards Earth. One sister Justine (Dunst) suffers from depression as the other sister Claire (Gainsbourg) servers as her caretaker.

Best Bits: The film is broken into two equal parts. The first half of the film observes Justine. A blond bride who hazes through her wedding reception with a dysfunctional family, egocentric boss, and complacent groom.

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

2.Psychiatry . endogenous depression.

If you've suffered through depression, as I have in the past almost crippling me. The only way it can be expressed is that the world already down and out around you. There is a slow burning exhaustion and sadness. Yet, a weight of acceptance of the bad things to come. With Justine at the beginning of film, we don't have much understanding or background as to why she makes the decisions she does like not wanting to be with her groom on her wedding night, or hazing out her boss in front of everyone. The story is slow moving in its revelation of her depression. Dunst's balanced portrayal is one of delicate sorrow.

The second half of the film centers around Charlotte Gainsbourgh's Claire. The other sister is the portrait of striving for survival. She is painted as someone who is walked over by Justine, and excuses her misbehavior. But Claire is our fight for living despite that the world's inevitable doom is looming nearer and it's unstoppable.

Why It's Great: Lars Von Triers creates a haunting film mixing the apocalypse and melancholia. Similar to the artistry of Terrence Malick's Tree of Life, Triers opens the film with a captivating prelude with portrait-like images of Earth, the main characters' slow demise. It ends any disbelief that they will not die. Whether this spoils the rest of the film for you and the hope that they will live might be a turn-off. But for me it left the film wide open to watch Justine and Claire fall apart.