It will be interesting to get acquainted with the reviews about the movie "Melancholy" to all fans of the cult of Danish director Lars von Trier. This is a fantastic drama that was released in 2011. The tape took part in the main program of the Cannes Film Festival. This article presents the plot of the picture, the actors and the director who participated in its creation.
Filming
In the reviews of the movie Melancholy, many viewers discuss with interest the symbols and secret meanings for which Lars von Trier shot this movie.
As the director himself admitted, the idea came to him during a session of psychotherapy, when he struggled with depression. The doctor told him the amazing thing that people with this disease in a stressful situation act more calmly and rationally, since they initially expected and only expected bad things before. Trier began to develop this idea into a full-fledged film.
Moreover, initially he had no idea of plausible from an astronomical point of view to depict the apocalypse. First of all, he was interested in the study of how the human psyche behaves against the backdrop of an impending catastrophe.
Developing this idea, the director became interested in planetary collisions. He began to study sites and theories devoted to such incidents. Interestingly, he initially decided to remove any uncertainty about the final picture, so that the viewer would not be distracted by studying the irrational behavior of the characters. This was the main meaning of the film "Melancholy".
Trier began filming with his own script, which was written under Penelope Cruz. The actress has long dreamed of working with the Dane. The concept of relations between the two sisters was developed just during their correspondence. But in the end, Cruz abandoned the role, preferring the fourth part of “Pirates of the Caribbean”.
It is believed that the image of Justin is mainly based on the personality of Trier himself. The director took her name from the novel of the Marquis de Sade "Justine", on the adaptation of which he thought for a long time.
The picture was shot about two months in Sweden. It was decided that the estate, in which the main events will develop, should resemble the scene of the famous drama Alain Renee "Last year in Marienbad."
Narration
The film "Melancholy" consists of two narrative parts, as well as an 8-minute prologue, referring the viewer to the "Space Odyssey" by Stanley Kubrick. In the latter, viewers observe the death of planet Earth, which occurs as a result of a collision with the mythical planet Melancholy.
In this prologue, critics saw many references to other important works of culture. Including the paintings of Peter Brueghel Sr. "Hunters in the Snow" and John Everett Millet "Ophelia". Throughout the prologue, an overture from the opera "Tristan and Isolde" by Richard Wagner sounds.
What is the picture about?
According to the plot of the film "Melancholy", events unfold on the days that precede the disaster itself. The picture consists of two parts.
The first demonstrates Justin's wedding. One of the main characters quickly enough becomes indifferent to the triumph, because of which there is a misunderstanding between her and many guests.
In the second part, Sister Justin appears, whose name is Claire. She begins to care for a woman who is in a state of clinical depression. In parallel, she is afraid of all the new messages about the approach of the mysterious planet Melancholy to Earth.
As the plot develops, the sisters change roles. Now Claire is depressed and begins to panic, and Justin takes care of her, supports everything. Claire is desperate for the film's final: with her sister and her son, she is preparing to accept the inevitable.
Premiere
For the first time, the picture was shown at the Cannes Film Festival. However, the forum itself forgot about the content of the film "Melancholy" when they began to discuss the behavior of director Lars von Trier after the premiere.
He eclipsed his tape, saying at a press conference that he understood the motives for Hitler's actions. He turned to this topic when he began to talk about the necessity and laws of the destruction of life on Earth. Moreover, von Trier jokingly called himself a Nazi.
A scandal erupted. The Dane was officially declared persona non grata at the Cannes Film Festival. In this picture, they nevertheless paid tribute. She was received positively.
Awards and nominations
At the Cannes Film Festival, the film was nominated for the Golden Palm Branch, but the award eventually went to Terrence Malik's drama The Tree of Life. But the actress Kirsten Dunst received a prize for Best Actress.
At once six nominations the tape was awarded at the annual continental prize of the European Academy of Cinema. The jury awarded her the prize for the best film. Also awarded were production designer Molly Malen Stensgor and cameraman Manuel Alberto Claro.
Kirsten Dunst
The work of the actors in the film "Melancholy" was highly appreciated by many. The role of the main character Justin was performed by an American actress of German descent Kirsten Dunst.
She was born in New Jersey in 1982. She made her film debut at the age of 7, playing a cameo in the comedy melodrama "New York Stories" (she appears in a short story directed by Woody Allen).
Already at the age of 12, the actress gained popularity. This happened after the appearance in the image of Claudia in the dramatic fantasy of Neil Jordan, "Interview with the Vampire." For this work, she was nominated for a Golden Globe, received the Saturn Award. Also, the role of Mary Jane Watson in a series of films dedicated to Spider-Man brought her popularity.
Among other well-known projects in which Dunst participated, Joe Johnston’s science fiction comedy “Jumanji”, Sofia Coppola’s melodrama “Suicide Virgin”, and Cameron Crowe’s comedy “Elizabethtown”.
Kiefer Sutherland
Canadian actor Kiefer Sutherland appears in the role of John, husband of Justin. The first part of the film is dedicated to their wedding. This was his first experience working with von Trier in a rich career.
The actor was born in London in 1952. It began to appear on television regularly in the late 1970s in the popular in the USA musical and humorous program "Saturday Night Live", which is still being released.
In the 1980s, he began to appear in little-known films. It was “The Return of Max Dagen,” “The Guy from the Bay,” “Caught in Silence.” The most popular role was brought to him by the role of Jack Bauer in the drama series "24 Hours", dedicated to the activities of a fictitious intelligence agency. For this work, the actor was awarded the Emmy and Golden Globe Prizes.
Charlotte Gainsbourg
Few people were surprised when Gainsbourg appeared on the list of actors in the movie "Melancholy". This is one of the favorite actresses of Trier, which is removed in most of his films.
She was born in London in 1971. She made her film debut in 1984 in the musical melodrama Eli Shuraki's “Words and Music”. The international success of the actress brought the family drama of her uncle Andrew Birkin "Cement Garden".
Von Trier Gainsbourg first appeared in 2009 in the horror film "Antichrist", playing the main role. For this work, she received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress. This was followed by "Melancholy" and "Nymphomaniac."
Alexander Skarsgard
In the image of Michael in "Melancholy" appears Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgard. For him, this role was one of the most successful works: he was recognized as the best actor at the Hampton International Film Festival.
Skarsgård was born in Stockholm in 1976. His film debut took place in the mid-1980s. For the first time in Hollywood, he played in Ben Stiller’s comedy The Model Male in 2001.
In recent years, many starred in the series: "Revelation", "True Blood", "Generation of Assassins." A great success for him was the image of Perry Wright, created in the series "Big Little Lies." For him, he was awarded the Golden Globe, Emmy, and the Screen Actors Guild of America Award.
Lars von Trier
The director of the film "Melancholy" is a contemporary cult Danish director. He was born in Copenhagen in 1956. He is considered one of the founders of the Dogma 95 manifesto. He was formulated by him while working on the series "Kingdom", when the director came to the conclusion that the characters and plot are more important for the audience than the style and technique of shooting. He shot most of the film with a hand-held camera, neglected professional lighting, achieving graininess and blurry colors. The picture brought him his first commercial success.
After that, Trier began filming the Golden Heart trilogy, which consisted of the psychological melodrama “Breaking the Waves”, the tragicomedy “Idiots” and the psychological musical “Dancing in the Dark”. For the last picture, he received the Golden Palm Branch of the Cannes Film Festival.
It was followed by the trilogy “The USA is a Land of Opportunities”, which was never fully realized. Only the dramatic thriller "Dogville" and the tape "Manderley" were released.
The film "Antichrist" became the main triumph of the Danish film festival "Bodil". The last work of the director at the moment is the psychological thriller "The House That Jack Built".
Impression
Reviews of the movie "Melancholy" from critics were mostly positive. The picture paid off at the box office, collecting about $ 15 million, despite the fact that its budget was about half that.
In the description of the film "Melancholy", critics often noted that this is a life-affirming tape about the end of the world. Von Trier managed to make a catastrophe film in which the death of the planet becomes only the decoration of a family drama. That's what the movie "Melancholy" really is about.
In addition, this is a very beautiful and multifaceted work of art, which succinctly and clearly glorifies life, even despite the fact that it tells of her death.
In reviews of the film "Melancholy", critics noted that this time the author is not interested in the very theme of the Apocalypse. He immediately warns the audience that the end is inevitable: everyone will die. As a result, the mysterious and mysterious planet Melancholy becomes a kind of allegory of death, before which all, without exception, are equal.
As a result, the film itself turned out about true human values: about love, about life, about the relationship between the closest people. The director purposefully leads the viewer to the idea that the future after death does not matter, resembling exposing the meaninglessness of human fuss, ostentatious well-being and secular rituals. The most important, in his opinion, are communication between people and sincere human emotions.
The picture from the Dane this time turned out to be surprisingly concise and simple. But you need to watch it as carefully as possible, paying attention to details that are not always random, using tips that the director generously scattered throughout the film.
Similar work
Of course, there are many films similar to Melancholy. However, as a rule, they have the same plot (the Earth is threatened with destruction due to some cosmic threat), but rarely achieve such a philosophical and semantic subtext.
Of the most outstanding paintings on this subject, it is necessary to recall the fantastic drama Darren Aronofsky's "Fountain", in which the main character Thomas Creo is in search of the Tree of Life. According to legend, his juice is able to give people eternal life. It is necessary for Thomas to find this tree, since his beloved wife is terminally ill.
It is noteworthy that Terrence Malik’s drama “The Tree of Life” turned out to be similar in style, which, together with “Melancholy”, fought for the Golden Palm Branch, but, unlike the film, von Trier was able to win. The plot of this picture is built around an 11-year-old child who, with his childlike directness, looks at the world around him. Soon, reality is overshadowed, as he has to face suffering, pain and death.