Editors' Picks

Lars von Trier's "Melancholia" is probably the most beautifully composed piece of misery and despair I may have ever seen. That might seem a bit damning to the film as a narrative piece but the visual beauty of the film and the character work that drives the film makes the entire piece hum like a well oiled machine. The story lends itself to a kind of malaise but von Trier backgrounds that and presents its own flair for existential despair in its own way.

The film presents us with two sisters, Justine and Claire, whose strained relationship unfolds before us as a mysterious planet looms overhead threatening the very existence of every being on the planet. It's interesting that this is the third film of the year to present a very small story juxtaposed with a setting that is pure science fiction. But while "Tree of Life" acts as more of a tone poem with a smattering of images of the creation of life contrasted with life in suburban 1950s Texas and "Another Earth" provides a more straight narrative, von Trier has his cake and eats it too.

Von Trier bisects the film into two halves. The first revolves around Justine's wedding day and the swirl of depression and anxiety that strains her familial relationships. The second opens an indeterminate amount of time later as Claire dreads the coming of the planet Melancholia. Will it just pass us by or does it present a more dire threat?

Though the two halves feel distinctly different as we only see Melancholia as a distant speck of a star during the wedding, the sense of impending doom and destruction and utter depression is a theme that uncovers itself over and over again throughout. Kirsten Dunst plays Justine with such a dead eyed glare in the second half and utter disdain in the first half. Though it seems like Dunst is asked to play things one note as the manic depressive, she actually goes through phases of depression effortlessly landing on resignation as the striking finale takes place.

Charlotte Gainsbourg as her sister Claire has the hardest of roles to play as the sane one who must act exasperated throughout because no one is acting the way she needs them to. She can't get Justine to be happy at her own wedding and she can't raise the same amount of concern out of her over the dangers of Melancholia or her husband. Gainsbourg brings out that rationality so clearly in the film's first half, that it becomes startling when she spirals uncontrollably when the inevitable begins to happen.

This all at once feels like von Trier's most effortless and yet most daring film yet. Without the graphic sex and violence of some his more recent work, von Trier perfectly encapsulates the mood of today and inadvertently creates his most disturbing film yet. "Melancholia" is at once a beautiful film and an ugly one. But these ugly characters, whose souls seem in constant torment, is presented in such beautiful tones in everything from the stunning use of Richard Wagner's prelude to the opera Tristan and Isolde, the gorgeous cinematography by Manuel Alberto Claro, and the subtle, internal performances by its two female leads. That ugliness resides in all of us and von Trier is unafraid to grapple with how we deal with those emotions in the film's final striking moments.

About the Author: Nash Choudhury is a 25 year old graduate from Binghamton University with a BA in Creative Writing. He is currently a freelance writer with a passion for movies.