Melancholia

In a way, what is typical of most of Lars' films (namely the huge emotional tension and very powerful intensity of the whole work), Melancholia lacks. I write "in a way" because Melancholia richly compensates for this deficit with its tight, masterfully evoked atmosphere, which especially in the final half escalates to the highest heights in its melancholy. Formally, Melancholia follows Antichrist (the extremely slowed down shots and the perfect composition of the image in the opening sequence are once again breathtaking – plus Wagner's biting melody gives it all the right drive:)) The thing I probably appreciate the most about the entire film is the fact that I was interested the entire time in seeing how the main characters would turn out, something I can't say about the VAST majority of films with similar themes. So, Lars von Trier is again very original in at least one thing – he chooses a sci-fi movie about the end of the world and uses this "banality" (banality in the sense that this theme has been used countless times in movies and the message of similar movies is usually very similar, if not the same) to depict warped family relationships in a very evocative way, and again he lets the viewer watch the despair and melancholy spill over from one character to another throughout the film. While it didn't feel as "gut-wrenching" at the end as Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, or Dogville, that didn't change the fact that I couldn't get the film out of my head for a few days). (08/06/2011)

A pure pleasure. The opening is flawless, the finale fatal. It is excellent for lovers of Richard Wagner and Kirsten Dunst's bust and dimples. The pleasure is multiplied, of course, in the Justine section, which has everything and lacks nothing. Humor is combined with absurdity and symbolism. Why waste the primitive aspects of Udo Kier when we have Alexander Skarsgård's wonderful newlywed games? He hasn't been this close to orgasm since True Blood, and that's saying something. (03/07/2011)

Melancholia was my first film of Lars von Trier's and I can already say with certainty that it won't be my last (on my viewing side). At the beginning, it looks like some kind of avant-garde film, with a succession of highly expressive scenes that may or may not be related. Then there's a wedding with all that entails, but it doesn't go as planned, and to make matters worse, the planet Melancholia is moving towards (away from) Earth, as if deciding whether or not to crash into the blue planet. As far as the cinematography, the production design and indeed the overall visuals are concerned, it's a really good show. The performances by Kirsten Dunst (again in a troubled girl role) and Charlotte Gainsbourg are amazing and breathtaking, which, along with the perfect musical score, add to the overall stifling atmosphere. In short, a film that is definitely not for everyone (even I had to keep my distance at times), but I have to say it is worth seeing on the big screen. (22/01/2012)

There aren't many male authors who write out their feelings and then let women play it out. I consider Melancholia one of the most honest authorial statements of recent years and the opening prologue with slow motion shots and Richard Wagner's impressive music an aesthetic orgasm. What the 19th hole meant is, I don't think, very indicative (I can already see Von Trier laughing under his beard as he reads the various nonsensical explanatory theories). (27/07/2011)

This is one destruction of the planet that I actually want to see as a movie. And it’s just as powerful as I had imagined. The human perspective gives the circumstances a certain authenticity and the limited cast in the second half also makes the atmosphere suitably intimate. At the same time, the first “wedding" part comes across like a sarcastic view of various character faults, but maybe it was simply meant to make us feel better, that nobody is perfect and maybe that everybody gets what he/she deserves. Excellent casting, with a weird, but utterly perfectly unstuck Kirsten Dunst and a perfect Kiefer Sutherland who gives a great performance of the only normal (or at least the only character I could identify with) character and spends his time drawing any attention to himself, but as soon as Melancholia comes along, it sweep them all from the surface of the Earth. Amazing escalation. The earth is evil. (13/11/2011)