Melancholia

The average film goer has always taken the Cannes Film Festival with a touch of salt, especially in the last few years. Gone are the days of booing and slow hand clapping, to be replaced by almost universal revere for anything that gets shown there. How else can you explain a standing ovation for Nicolas Winding Refn’s classy looking, but flawed, Drive and now the acclaim that the festival has bestowed on Lars von Trier’s latest film, Melancholia. The film itself has already gained much attention due to von Trier’s antics at a Cannes press conference after its showing, resulting in him being declared persona non grata by the festival’s directors. Knowing the nature of the Cannes audience though I’d bet my last croissant that if von Trier’s ill-fated remarks had been uttered before the presentation the screen would have been pelted with rotten fruit. I said during my review of von Trier’s last film Antichrist that, regardless of what you thought about it, its subject matter meant people were talking about it (for which von Trier no doubt was happy). With his press conference melt-down he’s pulled the same trick here, but is Melancholia any good though? It’s well documented that von Trier wrote Antichrist while he was suffering from depression and he’s now confirmed that Melancholia’s idea originated during some research he was undertaking which said that people suffering from depression actually keep very calm under stressful situations. From that has come a film which is focused on a wedding between Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Michael (Alexander Skarsgard) and Justine’s subsequent personality change during the evening of said wedding. Oh yeah, there’s also a huge undiscovered new planet called Melancholia about to possibly collide with, and destroy, Earth. Well, I say possibly, but we know it eventually will as von Trier shows us this in the films prologue. Therefore the main crux of the film is told, as it were, in flashback. So what do you get for the 135 minute running time? Err, not much actually. There’s some good family tensions played out at the wedding and some mild intrigue as to what will be the characters final decisions and actions before the ending of the planet. On the acting front, Dunst won the Best Actress award at Cannes (making it two in a row for von Trier films after Charlotte Gainsbourg for Antichrist) but this only makes a mockery of the festival even more. Dunst is fine, but hardly has anything to do. She spends half the film either walking around, staring off into the distance or, forchristssake, just lying in bed. Gainsbourg herself also appears in this film (playing Justine’s sister) and actually has the more interesting character as she tries to keep the family at least talking to each other whilst also trying to cope with her own personal terrifying fear of Melancholia’s impending appearance. This is a good performance from Gainsbourg and after what she went through in Antichrist must have seemed like a stroll in the park for her. Maybe surprisingly it’s actually Kiefer Sutherland who takes the acting plaudits from under his co-stars noses. Playing low-key as Gainsbourg’s husband he is actually the character in the film you latch on to the most as he tries to keep face in putting up with the bonkers family he has found himself married into, whilst trying to convince his wife (and himself) that Melancholia will pass safely by Earth. He’s no saint, but he becomes the most likeable player by default and when he makes a shocking decision towards the end of the film it almost feels like he has betrayed the audience. So what do you get out of this film? If it was von Trier’s attempt to get people to address mental illness, unlike the named planet, he’s missed the mark by miles. Having Dunst not wear make up for the second half of the film is hardly the stuff of cinematic genius. However, as with all von Trier films there is some stunning cinematography to enjoy and, get this, even some laughs. However, the only thing you’re going to get out of this film is a ten minute chat in the pub about what you would do in your last minutes before Earth is gone forever. I can guarantee you one thing you won’t do: Watch this again.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict

If you're a fan the usual aspects of a von Trier film are here for you, but this lacks the smart plot twists of Antichrist and is something that his films usually aren’t: Far too dull. Rating: 6/10.