Melancholia

Lars von Trier knows how to provoke. Whether with his last work Antichrist or at the Cannes press conference for his latest film, von Trier always manages to provoke the most violent reactions from viewers and the press - both positive and negative. Melancholia, too, will undoubtedly divide opinion once again. And rightly so, because even if the end of the world has probably never been celebrated in such beautiful pictures, the story that the film tells is very tough and takes some getting used to.

It's supposed to be a day of pure joy. After all, Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Michael (Alexander Skarsgard) are celebrating their wedding at the picturesque estate of Justine's sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and her husband John (Kiefer Sutherland). But even the bride and groom's late arrival causes initial tensions. These are intensified by the obvious bad mood of Justine's mother Gaby (Charlotte Rampling), who can not certify a rosy future for the bride and groom after her failed marriage to Dexter (John Hurt). But Justine's mood is also weighed down by Jack (Stellan Skarsgard), the bride's boss, who demands professional decisions from his best horse in the stable even on the day of their wedding. Less and less she manages to maintain a smile, more and more she is crushed by melancholy, which finally brings the evening to an unexpected end.

At the same time, the planet Melancholia is inexorably approaching Earth. While John firmly believes that it will fly past Earth and that this will lead to a breathtaking natural spectacle, Claire believes more and more in an imminent end of all life. And so the perfect facade of this wealthy family crumbles more and more each day in the face of the impending end.

Melancholia demands a lot from its viewers right from the start. Even though the slow-motion images von Trier presents here, accompanied by melancholy music, are of an undeniable beauty and fascination, this opening sequence, which anticipates the end, is simply far too long; the audience's patience is stretched to the limit of pain here. Von Trier already used such an opening sequence in Antichrist, but it was quite short and therefore enormously powerful. But here fascination turns into nervousness, boredom and frustration after ten minutes at the latest.

After that, the director switches to the style he himself helped to establish with his films. In best Dogma fashion, the shaky handheld camera now rules the proceedings, presenting interpersonal drama in the face of the end of the world over the course of two hours. This is intensely acted by Kirsten Dunst in particular, there's no question about that. Moreover, the second half of the film in particular is immersed in a very special mood due to the ever-present threat of Melancholia, both visually and sonically, creating an atmosphere that is difficult to define and hard to resist. Still, this can't hide the fact that the story itself is nowhere near as sophisticated or multi-layered as the handsome production makes it seem. The problem is that the characters aren't really sympathetic and their difficulties are simply whining on a high level. Granted, seeing that happiness, love and life can't be bought even with a lot of money and a nice mansion is interesting and dramaturgically exciting in a way. And observing a global catastrophe in a very small space also has a considerable appeal. But when the whole thing is presented by rather unsympathetic protagonists in such a long-winded way, then you as a viewer may rightly roll your eyes in annoyance.

But there is a target audience who understand Lars von Trier's style and who see what others consider boring and pretentious as simply brilliant and great art house cinema. And it is exactly these viewers who are spoiled in the best way with Melancholia and rewarded with great pictures and a more than depressingly beautiful finale. And it is exactly for such an arthouse cinema audience that the film is absolutely recommendable. But if you need not only impressive pictures but also a little bit of speed and sympathetic characters to enjoy a film, you should rather leave this work alone

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp