Melancholia
I have to admit that my relationship to von Trier is quite unusual: I never look forward to his movies or get excited about the release of one, and every new one makes me go “Ugh what the heck is he doing again and why has he never made Wasington?” Yet at the same time, his movies are must-watches for me and for the most part, I actually end up seeing them (much unlike some of my other older favorites like Almodovár or Inarritu or Sofia Coppola). But for some reason, it took me forever to watch “Melancholia”. We kind of attempted it for five minutes but somehow that day our attention span was way too short to even get beyond the first 5 minutes of the film. Cue to 3 years later: A lot of happened in my life (or rather my life was completely turned upside down) and after much soul-searching, I saw that “Melancholia” was on the German Netflix and finally decide to watch it.
It was a revelation. Sometimes I think you can divide people into two groups – those who have actually experienced a form of depression and those who haven’t. Then there may the group of people who experience something of that sort but are delusional or just unknowledgeable about it (I was in that category at some point). As a result, the enjoyment of this movie is actually quite strongly tied to whether you “get” Justine’s character or you don’t. The internet is full of “oh she was just a bitch” kind of comments and I quickly stopped reading them because it’s so pointless. To me, the movie itself made a lot of sense, and I actually preferred the first part that was not all about the impending doom (though I actually really enjoyed the sister relationship in the second part as well). I would be fine if the whole movie had been about how Justine blows up her life (which made me glad that I never did hahaha), because that part just mirrored my self-destructive inner self to a T and I don’t think I have ever seen anything like it. I know that every depression is different (and I have thankfully never been that bad) but for the general gist of it, Justine comes pretty close to what I think depression is and I don’t think any writer has ever managed to carve a character like that with so much perfection as von Trier did. Hats off to you, Mr. von Trier, I didn’t think you had it in you (when I should have expected it) and I should have taken you more seriously in the first place.
Other than that, I thought the movie was beautiful, delicate, wonderfully acted and directed – it’s a hit or miss (just like everything von Trier makes is a hit or miss), but for me it holds a very special place now. Oh and what would I give for a lavish wedding in a Scandinavian castle. I would wear a huge white dress with a comfy white sweater and a fluffy hat covering my ears. “Melancholia” is perhaps the most dreamy movie Lars von Trier has ever made, and it works wonderfully as a contrast to its characters’ breaking apart.