Melancholia
Melancholia actually references disastrous malaise spawned from two worlds. First and foremost is that of Justine (Kirsten Dunst) a somewhat manic depressive bride who comes by her mental disability honestly being the daughter of Gaby (Charlotte Rampling) a jaded and overbearing mother and Dexter (John Hurt) her father who has a penchant for carrying on with a multitude of other women at once as long as there name is Betty. Mom and dad send Justine spiralling into despondency at her wedding reception much to the consternation of John (Kiefer Sutherland) who is footing the bill for this rather large celebration on his rural estate. His wife Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is Justine’s infinitely saner sister who tries desperately to keep the party from running off the rails. Meantime the other Melancholia is a rogue planet hurtling towards the earth. Huh? Yeah it was pulled into orbit by the sun before being hurled back into space through our solar system where it’s been labelled Melancholia. Along with being a captain of industry John is also a scientist and astronomer who assures his family in the days after the catastrophic wedding that a planetary collision is impossible. The blogosphere however has its dissenters and as terrestrial hysteria starts to mount the fragile Justine begins to strengthen while themes from the Incredible Lightness of Being meld with those of the Canadian production Last Night to enlighten us about the stark and startling but none the less gorgeously artistic images that director Lars von Trier has opened the film with. Unexplained and perhaps never to be known is how distributors perfectly planned the release of Melancholia right after that asteroid had a close brush with our mother earth!