Melancholia

This one's been sitting in the collection for a little while, mostly due to my system incorrectly reporting the time of the film as clocking in over four hours. Seriously, it was preventing me from watching it for ages. The past few years it's been difficult to commit to anything longer than two hours, let alone four. If I wanted to see something verging on four hours I would finally get around to watching Seven Samurai.

Earlier this year I took a trip across province to see Cale. He gave me some homework a while before the trip that I completely failed: to watch Lars von Trier's Antichrist, starring Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Hesitation is a bit of an understatement when it comes to my reluctance to undertake such a thing, as last year, he tasked me to watch Salò. I did, and I was disturbed. At the same time, my idea of what movies could be - and have been - were widened. When I arrived at his house we immediately began discussing which film to undertake and upon discovering my failure the film was on before I could object.

Antichrist opens dramatically. I'm pretty sure the it was about ten or fifteen minutes of slow motion, black and white tragedy. Our two main characters, a married couple who are never given names, are attempting to deal with the loss of their son. He and She attempt to repair themselves and it leads them to retreat to their cabin in the woods to deal with Her depression. The movie is thick with symbolism and disturbing imagery. The imagery is explicit, violent and definitely not for everyone. Describing it as challenging is perfect, and makes me appreciative of what cinema can be outside of the typical popcorn flicks.

How does Melancholia relate to Antichrist, aside from the director? It's part of the Depression Trilogy (or Trilogy of Depression) that begins with Antichrist and ends with the upcoming Nymphomaniac - which is experiencing buzz due to the involvement of Shia LaBeouf and of course, the subject matter. Each part of the trilogy (to borrow from Wikipedia) centers around characters dealing with depression or grief in varying ways. It's said that they are representative of von Trier's own experiences with depression.

Melancholia centers around Kirsten Dunst's character Justine and her sister Claire, played by the Trilogy's one consistent actress, Gainsbourg. The movie opens in a similar, tragic way, but on a planetary level (literally). In this reality, another planet is on a collision course with Earth. It seems Earth gets destroyed, with some beautiful slow motion planetary destruction. But we're transported immediately to Justine's wedding night. The event should be happy for everyone, but tension is present between family members, and we get the impression that there is a lot of history here. We're observers, not just from the couch, or even as a guest but extraplanetary. Imagery of the Earth being destroyed puts us in a somber mood already, so we fully expect the worse.

Unfortunately at about an hour in I grew tired and decided to retire early, stopping the movie at what seemed like an appropriate spot. I wasn't sure where it was going or even how it was relating back to planetary destruction. I picked it up again the next night and it felt like a completely different movie. We were advanced a year wherein Justine is going through serious depression - aftermath of the events from earlier - all the while the planet is approaching. We switch focus a bit to Claire, who is paranoid that the planets will collide, while being reassured by her husband who is confident in the calculations that the planet is merely doing a drive-by. We travel with her through anxiety, frustration and depression in the face of certain finality.

It is an epic journey, and nothing could take away my attention. The movie is beautifully shot and well acted. It's not shocking or disturbing in the same way that Antichrist was, but it will definitely leave a feeling with you, especially if you have ever dealt with depression or anxiety. I leave with an even great appreciation for film, and look forward to being challenged again.