A Movie Review: Melancholia

Melancholia. The end of the world is near. A planet called Melancholia passes through our solar system and collides with earth. Planet earth is destroyed. Before all this happens, we witness a very painful wedding reception. Justine (Kirsten Dunst) has just married Michael (Alexander Skarsgård). They arrived two hours late to the reception, because their limo has difficulties dealing with the narrow roads. (Now considering that their reception is being held at a very fancy location that has horses, a golf course and mansion, I found it strange that the roads would be so bad – or maybe they decided to take the back roads for the fun of it.)

The reception is at the house/resort of her rich relatives: sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and brother-in-law John (Kiefer Sutherland). As mentioned, the reception is a disaster. Justine is in a world all her own, depressed or mentally unstable. On her wedding night she ends up having random sex with a young man who (I believe) is related to her husband, Michael. Her mother is just a bit nuts, having refused to go to the wedding because she doesn’t believe in churches. Her boss is at the reception and wants a tag line for an advertising campaign. In my mind, the only normal people are Claire and John. Perhaps they’re a bit uptight, but they seem normal compared to everyone else.

Now one question is rather or not anyone knows about the planet that is going to pass them by. You would assume so, but no one mentions a thing about it at the wedding. I believe there are a couple mentions about stars and planets, but nothing about a planet that might or might not destroy planet Earth. I suppose if they had no clue then we’re dealing with a situation of watching folks living their lives not knowing that their time is short. If the answer is yes, then these folks would seem to be just a tad nuts as they seem totally unconcerned about the potential disaster. (Of course, the scientists are saying all is well, but who would pay attention to scientists when something like this is happening – they’re probably just working with the world governments, trying to make sure that the planet dies in dignity versus having massive murders, rapes, and general rampage occur.)

Anyways, the reception ends and everyone heads off on their own. An unknown period of time passes and Justine comes back to visit Claire and John. She is a wreck either from depression or some unknown illness. The planet Melancholia is within days of passing by earth. John is convinced that a planetary collision will not happen and is excited to see the astronomical event. Claire is fearful. Justine is resigned. We get to watch as all three react to the realization that their deaths are near.

This movie just didn’t do it for me. My basic understanding of the movie is that how you look upon life has a determining factor on how you will deal with death. Okay. So what. I don’t need to watch a movie that tries to make a hero out of a depressed person while those who are more optimistic are shown to lack an ability to deal with the end.