‘Melancholia’: the Lars von Trier film inspired by a depressive episode
There are very few filmmakers who share the kind of pessimism that is omnipresent throughout the overwhelmingly bleak filmography of Lars von Trier. Having created incredibly dark works such as Dogville and Antichrist, von Trier’s vision of humanity is evidently unflattering and contains a deep-rooted suspicion of almost everything. Thankfully, cinema is the perfect medium to facilitate the manifestation of these cynical undercurrents.
While many of von Trier’s works deal with depression and human misery, one particular project actually came to the Danish auteur’s mind when he was experiencing a serious depressive episode. The idea for the film popped into von Trier’s head during a therapy session while he was discussing the behaviour people exhibit when they have been suffering from depression. It was this thread that gave birth to the 2011 gem called Melancholia.
A pre-apocalyptic film that resists any strict categorisations, Melancholia stars Kirsten Dunst as a young woman named Justine who is simply unable to experience happiness even on her wedding day. As the night progresses, she keeps slipping further and further down the hole in her own mind as her limitless sadness rapidly consumes her. It’s a strangely addictive portrayal of depression that could only have been made by someone who has felt it all before.
During a conversation with Female, von Trier said: “My analyst told me that melancholiacs will usually be more level-headed than ordinary people in a disastrous situation, partly because they can say: ‘What did I tell you?’. But also because they have nothing to lose. And that was the germ of Melancholia. From then on, things were speeding up. Less than a year later, the script was written, the actors found, and the crew in the process of shooting.”
Melancholia is a refreshingly personal account of the apocalypse, imagining an alternate reality where our civilisation is wiped out by an ominous planet that hurtles straight into us. Justine’s acceptance of the world’s end is contrasted by the panic everyone around her feels, especially her sister Claire (played by Charlotte Gainsbourg), who is paralysed by the thought that her son won’t be able to grow up and live a full life.
In the interview, von Trier admitted: “I think that Justine is very much me. She is based a lot on my person and my experiences with doomsday prophecies and depression. Whereas Claire is meant to be a… normal person.” Melancholia is an unapologetically anti-natalist arthouse masterpiece, asking us whether it’s right to bring a child into a world that is steadily zooming to its own demise.
