Movie Review - Melancholia

Melancholia (2011)

Starring Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Alexander Skarsgård, Stellan Skarsgård, and Charlotte Rampling

Directed by Lars von Trier

***An early review -- This film arrives in local arthouses on Friday***

Melancholia is, by definition, a sense of sadness and the dour atmosphere of Lars von Trier's Melancholia is enough to send one into a depressive state.  This is a film that just reeks of self-importance and self-indulgence and despite some solid performances, I found myself unequivocally disinterested in the whole affair.  Ultimately, the overarching problem with the film is a main character who is so oddly unbalanced that I never once got a sense of who this person was or why she was acting in the manner that she was.  This proves to be a nearly insurmountable problem with Melancholia despite a final hour that was surprisingly tense and well-executed.

That aforementioned problematic character is Justine (played by Kirsten Dunst who won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival this past May), a young woman whom we meet on her wedding day as she arrives at the reception held at a fancy country club owned by her brother-in-law John (Kiefer Sutherland) and her sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg).  She is seemingly happy, fawning over her new husband Michael (Alexander Skarsgård).  Sometime in the night, though, things seem to fall apart for Justine and she retreats from the festivities, falling into a depression that just simply doesn't seem warranted (or, if warranted, comes on much too quickly and intensely), causing her to do things that seem so incredibly out-of-place thereby ruining the "credibility" of the character for me.

Part One of the film focuses on "Justine," but the much more successful Part Two focuses on her sister "Claire."  At the beginning of the film, we are treated to an odd eight-minute long wordless dreamlike sequence set to classical music detailing an apocalyptic moment.  It is in Part Two that we begin to realize what the heck that opening barrage of images was all about.  After having welcomed an almost catatonically depressed Justine back into their country club home, Claire is worried about the fact that a rogue planet called Melancholia is set to pass by Earth, just missing a catastrophic collision.  While her astronomy-nut husband John tries to console her, Claire finds herself slowly slipping into a state of depression.  Unlike Justine's depression, however, Claire's emotional state feels legit -- she's got a young son and the thought of the world ending is intensely foreboding.

While I may not have understood the emotional state of Justine at all, I will say that Kirsten Dunst is in top form and I blame director-writer Lars von Trier for crafting an unbalanced character rather than harp on Dunst for the flaws.  Dunst particularly shines in Part Two (as does the whole movie in general) thanks to interactions with the wonderful Charlotte Gainsbourg who, unlike Dunst, is given a character with an arc that is fully believable.  Because of this, Gainsbourg's emotional journey is the one which the viewers will respond to the most and the film's final moments are rather riveting because of this.  [I should also note that I was rather surprisingly impressed by Kiefer Sutherland here, portraying (at least outwardly) the only sane person amidst this group of crazies.]

Melancholia is at times a beautiful film.  There are images that are sometimes stunning to look at.  The film's final moments are pretty good (perhaps even verging on great) cinema.  However, the great forty-five minute finale can't negate the fact that the film's opening ninety minutes are intensely flawed due to the fact that the main character rings so untrue.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+