No one can remain indifferent to Lars Von Trier.
He has haunted me for many years and troubled me to the point of disturbing a quiet night’s rest, My first contact with his filmography was with Breaking the Waves (1996) a disturbing story of a woman who exposes herself to sexual abjection thinking that with this kind of sacrifice she will help rehabilitate her paralyzed husband and bring him back into walking again. I was overwhelmed. Then I went on seeing more of his films, Dancer in the Dark (2000) Dogville, (2003) Antichrist (2009) and Nymphomaniac (2013) I have noticed how he tends to expose his female characters to an extreme of suffering, self-abjection, self-loathing and personal sacrifice. In this way, there are those who accuse him of misogyny though he has always argued there is a sense of Christ-life elevation and spiritual, almost religious, “cleansing” in the process.
Melancholia, directed in 2011, is a sensitive and touching approach to the disquieting and
unsettling state of profound sadness or, using the clinical term, depression. Trier has infused
much of the film with his own personal experience of surviving through a long-term depressive condition and the impact this psychological state has on the individual and everyone that surrounds him/her.
The film follows the life of two sisters, Justine played by Kirsten Dunst and Claire played by Charlotte Gainsbourg, who also stars Antichrist and Nymphomaniac. The first sequence of Justine’s wedding is a marvelous journey through Justine’s attempt at functioning like a “normal” person on her wedding day and her inner troubled state which forces her to retreat from the party and seclude herself in the bedroom, or even in the bathroom, outside in the beautifully moonlit landscape, away from all the guests. Meanwhile Claire, the organized,
detail-oriented and caring sister, who has prepared everything to the point of perfection
remains a nerve wreck seeing that her sister is falling apart, incapable of committing herself to Michael, played by Alexander Skarsgård. Claire and Justine’s estranged parents are also guests at the party, always bickering at each other (played by two wonderful actors, Charlotte Rampling and John Hurt) one a narcissistic womanizer the other a witty and sarcastic ex-wife who, as is hinted at through dialogue, has held too many grudges throughout the years. Her boss played by Stellar Skarsgård is at the party too, trying to prey on Justine’s gift for one last advertising gimmick (the suggestion is that she had worked for an advertising agency).
The wedding sequence is breathtaking. When it all ends we move to another sequence of the film where we can see Justine’s sunk into deep depression. She is helped by her sister throughout recovery and the lack of vitality and dejection she displays is strongly represented by a scene where tentatively, and with the help of her sister, she attempts to get into the bath tub. When Claire, trying to please her sister and cheer her up, prepares her favorite meat roll she says it tastes like ashes. Depression settles in, she is grief-stricken, incapable of tasting her favorite food, her demeanor is one of profound despondency. And everything is set against the prospect of the end of the world.
The planet Melancholia, a metaphoric representation of Justine’s emotional state, is going to collide with the Earth despite Claire’s husband’s (played by Kiefer Sutherland) adamant denial of this denouement. But the planet looms larger, it grows strangely bigger, threatening everything. Surprisingly, it is Claire who is the first to lose her cool and gives in to panic while Justine, the depression-ridden sister, is capable of dealing with the situation with self -control, remaining an example of what is called depressive realism, that is, if you experience depression you will be able to cope with reality in a more acute way , the “sadder but wiser” hypothesis (Bell, Matthew, page 157).157). Interestingly Trier uses the term
melancholia, with its ancient Greek roots instead of the anglicized version melancholy
emphasizing the cultural longevity and allure of the word and not just its connection to what
came to be perceived as a psychological disease.
The romantic and cultural appeal of melancholia and the perception of its creative potential have always exerted fascination upon human beings. It is Justine who, in the end, builds a safe haven out of wood and branches for her sister and her nephew, trying to spin him a tale of security and evasion while the planet melancholia relentlessly collides with the Earth, destroying everything with its impact and all we can see is a blinding flash of light.
It is Justine who, having reached the depth of despair, is creative enough to fantasize and dream.
Elsa Andrade
Referência bibliográfica:
Bell, Matthew (2014). Melancholia: The Western Malady. Cambridge University Press
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