Melancholia

(the review contains some spoilers and subjects about mental illnesses, particularly depression.) ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ Definitely, one of Lars von Trier’s best films, it’s full of metaphors that some think are minimalist, but just be patient and everything will make sense. One of the best “subjects” addressed in this film is depression, and it’s very visible that the standard and conventional media create a certain glorification with mental illnesses, especially depression. But in Melancholy everything is so raw that you feel perfectly what the protagonist Justine feels. During the first half of the movie, the wedding, I think her wedding dress is really very symbolic and a physical representation of her depression. This makes her feel weighted, and as if she were dragging a great burden with her, when all she really wants to do is take it off, translating into Justine’s desire to simply lie down in silence. (I really had to take a long break to go back to the film because it’s something that moves me a lot in a very personal way.) The second thing I would like to address is the wedding reception. Throughout the film, people are always partying at the wedding reception at all times - whether when Justine and her mother disappear to take a shower or when Justine simply leaves for periods of time. No matter what happens, the party never stops, and this is a great metaphor for life itself. We witnessed Justine moving further and further away from the people at the party. It starts first with her boss who tells her to work during her wedding and ends with her basically cheating on her fiancé. The point is that you would think that this type of event would keep the guests away, but no matter what happens, people are always partying. I’m going to say without remorse, but it’s this kind of thing that reveals the selfish nature of humans in general - they don’t care how you’re being treated or what kind of shit you’re going through. This becomes more prevalent the more distant Justine gets. As she delves deeper into her depression, we begin to see the worst sides of her sister, brother-in-law, boss and fiancé. They all expect her to keep her appearances, but no one seems to really care about her and what she’s going through. This is even important because these people are supposedly the closest to her and, somehow, they barely know her. I found this more obvious with her husband because sometimes I wondered if they knew each other. There seemed to be an obvious disconnection, and most surprising of all, he was oblivious to her depression. All this helps to improve the general feeling of disconnection that Justine and the audience feel throughout the film and the party helps to highlight Justine’s isolation and loneliness, despite being surrounded by many, many people. In part two, we finally have Claire. In “normal” life, Claire is the most practical, the one that keeps everything together, the one that softens everything, maintains relationships and keeps her head in all the small crises of life. She’s the kind of person who keeps life working. Therefore, the possibility of life ending abruptly is the worst possible result and the only thing she just can’t handle. Her answer to this, appropriately, is fear. When it’s clear that the end of life is inevitable, Claire’s first response is to perpetuate life. But Justine knows that all this is futile and unnecessary since the inevitability of death comes to all of us. Everyone just needs to accept it. But Melancholy represents much more than the object that precipitates an imminent disaster. As the name implies, it is also a representative of depression itself. It certainly represented the mental state of the imminent misfortune for Justine. She refused to undress for her husband on the wedding night, she didn’t even undress for the young man she used to “end” her marriage. But for the planet Melancholy, she undressed and opened up completely to it. The end itself is the joy in her life, to which she could give herself completely. Melancholia is a masterpiece. ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀— The Earth is Evil, We Don’t Need to Grieve for it.