Melancholia (film)
Encyclopedia
Melancholia is a 2011 drama film written and directed by Lars von Trier
, starring Kirsten Dunst
, Charlotte Gainsbourg
and Kiefer Sutherland
. The narrative revolves around two sisters during and shortly after the wedding party of one of them, while Earth is about to collide with an approaching rogue planet
. The film prominently features music from Richard Wagner
's prelude to his opera Tristan und Isolde
.
Trier's initial inspiration for the film came from a depressive episode he suffered and the insight that depressed people remain calm in stressful situations. The film is a Danish production by Zentropa
, with international co-producers in Sweden, France, Germany and Italy. Filming took place in Sweden.
The film premiered in May 2011 at the 64th Cannes Film Festival
. Dunst received the festival's Best Actress Award
for her performance.
s of the film. A giant planet is shown threateningly approaching Earth, eventually destroying it in a planetary collision. The film is then divided into two parts.
In part one, called "Justine", the young couple Justine and Michael are getting married at the castle-like home of Justine's sister, Claire, and her husband. The glamorous and expensive party is far from successful, as Justine's divorced parents are openly fighting at the dinner. Justine herself is alienated from her sister, her new husband, her advertising-executive boss and her parents. She drifts away from the party, and becomes increasingly sad and desperate during the night. At several occasions, she looks at a specific star, which seems to shine brighter than normal. Claire's husband John says it is the star Antares
, and later in the film the star disappears. At the end of the party, Michael leaves Justine, implying that their marriage is called off.
In part two, called "Claire", Justine has become severely depressed
. She comes to stay with Claire and John, who live with their son Leo in the castle where the party took place. Justine is unable to carry out normal everyday activities like taking a bath or even eating, but gets better over time. It turns out that the reason for Antares' disappearance was the rogue planet
Melancholia, which had eclipse
d the star. Melancholia, a massive blue telluric planet (or super-earth
) that had before been hidden behind the sun, becomes visible in the sky, approaching Earth
. John, who is a noted astronomer
, is excited about the planet, and looks forward to the "fly-by" expected by scientists, who have assured the public that Earth and Melancholia will pass by each other without colliding.
Claire is very fearful and believes the end of the world is imminent. She does a search on the Internet and finds a site describing the movements of the planet Melancholia around Earth as a "dance of death" in which the apparent passage of Melancholia initiates a slingshot orbit that will bring the planets into collision soon after. On the night of the fly-by, it seems like John was right, as Melancholia indeed passes by Earth in a near-miss
. After the fly-by, background birdsong abruptly ceases, recalling the falling leaves and dead birds glimpsed behind Justine in the opening frames of the film. Horses calm down from an earlier state of agitation.
However, just as the "dance of death" theory predicted, this is a false respite. As Claire suddenly notices after she views the rogue planet through Leo's makeshift 'planet viewer', Melancholia is circling back and will collide with Earth after all. John, who also discovers that the end is near, commits suicide through a pill overdose. His dead body is found by Claire, who decides to conceal it from Leo and Justine. She talks to her sister Justine, who is unperturbed by the impending doom. Justine says she knows that life does not exist elsewhere in the universe. Claire becomes increasingly fraught, trying futilely to act in response to the oncoming destruction and to protect Leo from the inevitable. In contrast, Justine has become calm and silent, seemingly accepting the forthcoming apocalypse. Their relationship has become inverted, with Claire now dependent on Justine for emotional and psychological support.
Justine tries to comfort Leo (who seems to help her dealing with the depression) by building a protective "magic cave", a symbolic shelter made out of wooden sticks. Justine, Claire and Leo enter the shelter as the planet approaches. Claire is agitated and fearful, while Justine and Leo remain calm and hold hands. Melancholia then collides with Earth, destroying it.
attended during treatments for his depression. A therapist had told Trier that depressive people tend to act more calmly than others under heavy pressure, because they already expect bad things to happen. Trier then developed the story not primarily as a disaster film, and without any ambition to portray astrophysics
realistically, but as a way to examine the human psyche during a disaster.
The idea of a planetary collision was inspired by websites with theories about such events. Trier decided from the outset that it would be clear from the beginning that the world would actually end in the film, so audiences would not be distracted by the suspense of not knowing. The concept of the two sisters as main characters developed via an exchange of letters between Trier and the Spanish actress Penélope Cruz
. Cruz wrote that she would like to work with Trier, and spoke enthusiastically about the play The Maids
by Jean Genet
. As Trier subsequently tried to write a role for the actress, the two maids from the play evolved into the sisters Justine and Claire in Melancholia. Much of the personality of the character Justine was based on Trier himself. The name was inspired by the novel Justine by Marquis de Sade
.
Melancholia was produced by Denmark's Zentropa
, with co-production support from its subsidiary in Germany, Sweden's Memfis Film, France's Slot Machine and Liberator Productions and Italy's Pappagallo Films. The production received 7.9 million Danish krone
r from the Danish Film Institute
, 600,000 euro
from Eurimages
and 3 million Swedish kronor
from the Swedish Film Institute
. Additional funding was provided by Film i Väst
, DR, Arte France
, CNC, Canal+
, BIM Italy, Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Sveriges Television
and Nordisk Film- & TV-Fond. The total budget was 52.5 million Danish kroner.
Cruz was initially attached to play the lead role, but dropped out when the filming schedule of another project was changed. Trier then offered the role to Kirsten Dunst
, who accepted it. Dunst had been suggested for the role by the American filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson
in a discussion about the film between him and Trier.
, Sweden. It was the fourth time Trier made a film in Trollhättan. Exteriors included the area surrounding the Tjolöholm Castle
. The film was recorded digitally with Arri Alexa and Phantom cameras. Trier employed his usual directing style with no rehearsals; instead the actors improvised and received instructions between the takes. The camera was initially operated by Trier, and then left to cinematographer Manuel Alberto Claro
who repeated Trier's movements. Claro said about the method: "[Trier] wants to experience the situations the first time. He finds an energy in the scenes, presence, and makes up with the photographic aesthetics." Trier explained that the visual style he aimed at in Melancholia was "a clash between what is romantic and grand and stylized and then some form of reality", which he hoped to achieve through the hand-held camerawork. He feared however that it would tilt too much toward the romantic, because of the setting at the upscale wedding, and the castle, which he called "super kitschy".
's Tristan und Isolde
supplies the main musical theme of the film, and Trier's use of an overture-like opening sequence before the first act is a technique closely associated with Wagner. This choice was inspired by a 30-page section of Marcel Proust
's In Search of Lost Time
, where Proust concludes that Wagner's prelude is the greatest work of art of all time. Melancholia uses music more than any film by Trier since The Element of Crime
from 1984. In some scenes, the film was edited in the same pace as the music. Trier said: "It's kind of like a music video that way. It's supposed to be vulgar." Trier also pointed out parallels between both Wagner and editing to the music and the aesthetics of Nazi Germany
.
Visual effects were provided by companies in Poland, Germany and Sweden under special effects supervisor Peter Hjorth. Poland's Platige Image, which previously had worked with Trier on Antichrist
, created most of the effects seen in the film's opening sequence; the earliest instructions were provided by Trier in the summer 2010, after which a team of 19 graphic artists worked on the project for three months.
.... But is that not just another way of expressing defeat? Defeat to the lowest of cinematic common denominators? Romance is abused in all sorts of endlessly dull ways in mainstream products."
The premiere took place at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival
, where the Melancholia was screened in competition on 18 May. The press conference after the screening gained considerable publicity. The Hollywood Reporter
s Scott Roxborough wrote that "Von Trier has never been very P.C.
and his Cannes press conferences always play like a dark stand-up routine, but at the Melancholia press conference he took it to another level, tossing a grenade into any sense of public decorum." Trier first joked about working on a hardcore pornographic film which would star Dunst and Gainsbourg. When he was asked about the relation between the influences of German Romanticism in Melancholia and Trier's own German heritage, the director brought up the fact that he had been raised believing his biological father was a Jew, only to learn as an adult that his actual father was a German gentile. He then made jokes about Jews and Nazis, said he understood Adolf Hitler
and admired the work of architect Albert Speer
, and jokingly announced that he was a Nazi. The Cannes Film Festival issued an official apology for the remarks the same day and clarified that Trier is not a Nazi or an antisemite, then declared the director "persona non grata
" the following day. In practice this meant that he was not allowed to go within 100 meters of the Festival Palace
. He did however stay in Cannes and continued to give promotional interviews.
The film was released in Denmark on 26 May 2011 through Nordisk Film
. Launched on 57 screens, the film entered the box-office chart as number three. A total of 50,000 tickets were eventually sold in Denmark. It will be released in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 30 September, in Germany on 6 October and in Italy on 21 October. Magnolia Pictures
acquired the distribution rights for North America and will release it on 11 November, with a pre-theatrical release on 13 October as a rental through such Direct TV vendors as Vudu and Amazon.com
. Madman Entertainment
bought the rights for Australia and New Zealand.
wrote that "there are images – many images – in Melancholia which underline that Lars von Trier is a unique film storyteller", and "the choice of material and treatment of it underlines Lars von Trier's originality." Skotte also compared it to the director's previous film: "Through its material and look, Melancholia creates rifts, but unlike Antichrist I don't feel that there is a fence pole in the rift which is smashed directly down into the meat. You sit on your seat in the cinema and mildly marveled go along in the end of the world." Berlingske
s Ebbe Iversen wrote about the film: "It is big, it is enigmatic, and now and then rather irritating. But it is also a visionary work, which makes a gigantic impression." The critic continued: "From time to time the film moves on the edge of kitsch, but with Kirsten Dunst as Justine and Charlotte Gainsbourg as Claire in front, Melancholia is a bold, uneven, unruly and completely unforgettable film."
Steven Loeb of Southampton Patch wrote, "This film has brought the best out of von Trier, as well as his star. Dunst is so good in this film, playing a character unlike any other she has ever attempted, that she won the award for Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival this past May. Even if the film itself were not the incredible work of art that it is, Dunst’s performance alone would be incentive enough to recommend it."
Sukhdev Sandhu wrote from Cannes in The Daily Telegraph
that the film "at times comes close to being a tragi-comic opera about the end of the world", and that "The apocalypse, when it comes, is so beautifully rendered that the film cements the quality of fairy tale that its palatial setting suggests." About the acting performances, Sandhu wrote: "All of them are excellent here, but Dunst is exceptional, so utterly convincing in the lead role – trouble, serene, a fierce savant – that it feels like a career breakthrough. ... Meanwhile, Gainsbourg, for whom the end of the world must seem positively pastoral after the horrors she went through in Antichrist, locates in Claire a fragility that ensures she's more than a whipping girl for social satire." Sandhu brought up one reservation in the review, in which he gave the film the highest possible rating of five stars: "there is, as always with Von Trier's work, a degree of intellectual determinism that can be off-putting; he illustrates rather than truly explore ideas." Peter Bradshaw
, writing for The Guardian
, called the film "clunky" and "tiresome", judging it to be "conceived with[out] real passion or imagination", and not "well written or convincingly acted in any way at all", and gave it two stars out of a possible five.
Dunst received the Best Actress Award
at the closing ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival.
Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion....
, starring Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress, singer and model. She made her film debut in Oedipus Wrecks, a short film directed by Woody Allen for the anthology New York Stories...
, Charlotte Gainsbourg
Charlotte Gainsbourg
Charlotte Lucy Gainsbourg is an Anglo-French actress and singer. After releasing an album with her father at the age of fifteen, more than twenty years passed before she released two albums as an adult to commercial and critical success...
and Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer Sutherland is an English-born Canadian actor, producer and director, best known for his portrayal of Jack Bauer on the Fox thriller drama series 24 for which he has won an Emmy Award , a Golden Globe award , two Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Satellite...
. The narrative revolves around two sisters during and shortly after the wedding party of one of them, while Earth is about to collide with an approaching rogue planet
Rogue Planet
- Literature :* "Rogue Planet" , a Dan Dare story that ran in the original Eagle comic from Volume 6, Issue 48 to Volume 8, Issue 7* Rogue Planet , a 2000 novel set in the Star Wars galaxy- Other :...
. The film prominently features music from Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's prelude to his opera Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting...
.
Trier's initial inspiration for the film came from a depressive episode he suffered and the insight that depressed people remain calm in stressful situations. The film is a Danish production by Zentropa
Zentropa
Europa is a film directed by Lars von Trier. Released in 1991, it is von Trier's third theatrical feature film and is the final film in the Europa trilogy....
, with international co-producers in Sweden, France, Germany and Italy. Filming took place in Sweden.
The film premiered in May 2011 at the 64th Cannes Film Festival
2011 Cannes Film Festival
The 64th annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 11 to May 22, 2011. American actor Robert De Niro served as the president of the jury for the main competition and French filmmaker Michel Gondry headed the jury for the short film competition...
. Dunst received the festival's Best Actress Award
Best Actress Award (Cannes Film Festival)
The Best Actress Award is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the jury from the 'official section' of films at the festival. It was first awarded in 1946.-Award Winners:-External links:* * ....
for her performance.
Plot
The film begins with a dream-like introductory sequence involving several of the main characters and images from space. It is possible to analyze this sequence as fulfilling the same function as an operatic overture, as it introduces many visual leitmotifLeitmotif
A leitmotif , sometimes written leit-motif, is a musical term , referring to a recurring theme, associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical idea of idée fixe...
s of the film. A giant planet is shown threateningly approaching Earth, eventually destroying it in a planetary collision. The film is then divided into two parts.
In part one, called "Justine", the young couple Justine and Michael are getting married at the castle-like home of Justine's sister, Claire, and her husband. The glamorous and expensive party is far from successful, as Justine's divorced parents are openly fighting at the dinner. Justine herself is alienated from her sister, her new husband, her advertising-executive boss and her parents. She drifts away from the party, and becomes increasingly sad and desperate during the night. At several occasions, she looks at a specific star, which seems to shine brighter than normal. Claire's husband John says it is the star Antares
Antares
Antares is a red supergiant star in the Milky Way galaxy and the sixteenth brightest star in the nighttime sky . Along with Aldebaran, Spica, and Regulus it is one of the four brightest stars near the ecliptic...
, and later in the film the star disappears. At the end of the party, Michael leaves Justine, implying that their marriage is called off.
In part two, called "Claire", Justine has become severely depressed
Depression (mood)
Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
. She comes to stay with Claire and John, who live with their son Leo in the castle where the party took place. Justine is unable to carry out normal everyday activities like taking a bath or even eating, but gets better over time. It turns out that the reason for Antares' disappearance was the rogue planet
Rogue Planet
- Literature :* "Rogue Planet" , a Dan Dare story that ran in the original Eagle comic from Volume 6, Issue 48 to Volume 8, Issue 7* Rogue Planet , a 2000 novel set in the Star Wars galaxy- Other :...
Melancholia, which had eclipse
Eclipse
An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object is temporarily obscured, either by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer...
d the star. Melancholia, a massive blue telluric planet (or super-earth
Super-Earth
A super-Earth is an extrasolar planet with a mass higher than Earth's, but substantially below the mass of the Solar System's gas giants. The term super-Earth refers only to the mass of the planet, and does not imply anything about the surface conditions or habitability...
) that had before been hidden behind the sun, becomes visible in the sky, approaching Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
. John, who is a noted astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
, is excited about the planet, and looks forward to the "fly-by" expected by scientists, who have assured the public that Earth and Melancholia will pass by each other without colliding.
Claire is very fearful and believes the end of the world is imminent. She does a search on the Internet and finds a site describing the movements of the planet Melancholia around Earth as a "dance of death" in which the apparent passage of Melancholia initiates a slingshot orbit that will bring the planets into collision soon after. On the night of the fly-by, it seems like John was right, as Melancholia indeed passes by Earth in a near-miss
Near-Earth object
A near-Earth object is a Solar System object whose orbit brings it into close proximity with the Earth. All NEOs have a perihelion distance less than 1.3 AU. They include a few thousand near-Earth asteroids , near-Earth comets, a number of solar-orbiting spacecraft, and meteoroids large enough to...
. After the fly-by, background birdsong abruptly ceases, recalling the falling leaves and dead birds glimpsed behind Justine in the opening frames of the film. Horses calm down from an earlier state of agitation.
However, just as the "dance of death" theory predicted, this is a false respite. As Claire suddenly notices after she views the rogue planet through Leo's makeshift 'planet viewer', Melancholia is circling back and will collide with Earth after all. John, who also discovers that the end is near, commits suicide through a pill overdose. His dead body is found by Claire, who decides to conceal it from Leo and Justine. She talks to her sister Justine, who is unperturbed by the impending doom. Justine says she knows that life does not exist elsewhere in the universe. Claire becomes increasingly fraught, trying futilely to act in response to the oncoming destruction and to protect Leo from the inevitable. In contrast, Justine has become calm and silent, seemingly accepting the forthcoming apocalypse. Their relationship has become inverted, with Claire now dependent on Justine for emotional and psychological support.
Justine tries to comfort Leo (who seems to help her dealing with the depression) by building a protective "magic cave", a symbolic shelter made out of wooden sticks. Justine, Claire and Leo enter the shelter as the planet approaches. Claire is agitated and fearful, while Justine and Leo remain calm and hold hands. Melancholia then collides with Earth, destroying it.
Cast
- Kirsten DunstKirsten DunstKirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress, singer and model. She made her film debut in Oedipus Wrecks, a short film directed by Woody Allen for the anthology New York Stories...
as Justine, a young woman with a promising career and a seemingly perfect life. She experiences depression and becomes more cynical during the second half of the film, but also visibly stronger in response to the impending events. - Charlotte GainsbourgCharlotte GainsbourgCharlotte Lucy Gainsbourg is an Anglo-French actress and singer. After releasing an album with her father at the age of fifteen, more than twenty years passed before she released two albums as an adult to commercial and critical success...
as Claire, sister of Justine, mother of Leo and wife of John. As a parent who cannot protect her son from the apocalypse, Claire becomes increasingly fearful and distraught as Melancholia makes its final approach. - Kiefer SutherlandKiefer SutherlandKiefer Sutherland is an English-born Canadian actor, producer and director, best known for his portrayal of Jack Bauer on the Fox thriller drama series 24 for which he has won an Emmy Award , a Golden Globe award , two Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Satellite...
as John, father of Leo and husband of Claire, who appears to have a very optimistic and logical view about the planet Melancholia. When that is revealed as illusory, he cannot deal with it and leaves his wife and son alone at the end. - Alexander SkarsgårdAlexander SkarsgårdAlexander Johan Hjalmar Skarsgård is a Swedish actor. He is best known for his roles as vampire Eric Northman on the HBO series True Blood, Meekus in Zoolander and Brad Colbert in the HBO miniseries Generation Kill.-Early life:...
as Michael, the newly-wed husband of Justine, who leaves her on their wedding night. Alexander Skarsgård is the son of Stellan Skarsgård, whose character (Jack) is Michael's best man and Justine's boss. - Cameron Spurr as Leo, the young son of Claire and John, who seems to help Justine throughout her depression. She returns his affection and comforts him during the second half of the film, holding his hand during the apocalypse.
- Charlotte RamplingCharlotte RamplingCharlotte Rampling, OBE is an English actress. Her career spans four decades in English-language as well as French and Italian cinema.- Early life :...
as Gaby, the bitter and cynical ex-wife of Dexter, and mother of Justine and Claire. - John HurtJohn HurtJohn Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...
as Dexter, the fun-loving father of Justine and Claire, and ex-husband of Gaby. - Jesper ChristensenJesper ChristensenJesper Christensen is a Danish actor. A veteran of European cinema, he has more recently made the transition to English language projects, including The Interpreter and Revelations. He has also appeared as the mysterious villain Mr...
as Little Father, the house butlerButlerA butler is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some also have charge of the entire parlour floor, and housekeepers caring for the entire house and its...
. - Stellan SkarsgårdStellan SkarsgårdStellan John Skarsgård is a Swedish actor, known internationally for his film roles in Angels & Demons, Breaking the Waves, The Hunt for Red October, Ronin, Good Will Hunting, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist,...
as Jack, the self-centered and manipulative boss of Justine. - Brady CorbetBrady CorbetBrady James Monson Corbet is an American actor. Corbet is known for playing Mason Freeland in the film Thirteen, Brian Lackey in the film Mysterious Skin, Alan Tracy in the 2004 film Thunderbirds, and Peter in the 2008 film Funny Games...
as Tim, a young trainee for Jack, who follows Justine around on her wedding night. Tim and Justine have a brief sexual encounter during the first half of the film. - Udo KierUdo KierUdo Kier is a German actor, known primarily for his work in horror and exploitation movies.-Early life:...
as The Wedding Planner, who, as a comic reliefComic reliefComic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension.-Definition:...
, is disappointed by Justine for not living up to his expectations as a bride, and refuses to look at her during the reception.
Development
The idea for the film originated during a therapy session Lars von TrierLars von Trier
Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion....
attended during treatments for his depression. A therapist had told Trier that depressive people tend to act more calmly than others under heavy pressure, because they already expect bad things to happen. Trier then developed the story not primarily as a disaster film, and without any ambition to portray astrophysics
Astrophysics
Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of the universe, including the physical properties of celestial objects, as well as their interactions and behavior...
realistically, but as a way to examine the human psyche during a disaster.
The idea of a planetary collision was inspired by websites with theories about such events. Trier decided from the outset that it would be clear from the beginning that the world would actually end in the film, so audiences would not be distracted by the suspense of not knowing. The concept of the two sisters as main characters developed via an exchange of letters between Trier and the Spanish actress Penélope Cruz
Penélope Cruz
Penélope Cruz Sánchez is a Spanish actress. Signed by an agent at age 15, she made her acting debut at 16 on television and her feature film debut the following year in Jamón, jamón , to critical acclaim...
. Cruz wrote that she would like to work with Trier, and spoke enthusiastically about the play The Maids
The Maids
The Maids is a play by the French dramatist Jean Genet. It was first performed at the Théâtre de l'Athénée in Paris in a production that opened on 17 April 1947, which Louis Jouvet directed...
by Jean Genet
Jean Genet
Jean Genet was a prominent and controversial French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. Early in his life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but later took to writing...
. As Trier subsequently tried to write a role for the actress, the two maids from the play evolved into the sisters Justine and Claire in Melancholia. Much of the personality of the character Justine was based on Trier himself. The name was inspired by the novel Justine by Marquis de Sade
Marquis de Sade
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer famous for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle...
.
Melancholia was produced by Denmark's Zentropa
Zentropa
Europa is a film directed by Lars von Trier. Released in 1991, it is von Trier's third theatrical feature film and is the final film in the Europa trilogy....
, with co-production support from its subsidiary in Germany, Sweden's Memfis Film, France's Slot Machine and Liberator Productions and Italy's Pappagallo Films. The production received 7.9 million Danish krone
Danish krone
The krone is the official currency of the Kingdom of Denmark consisting of Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. It is subdivided into 100 øre...
r from the Danish Film Institute
Danish Film Institute
The Danish Film Institute is the national Danish agency responsible for supporting and encouraging film and cinema culture, and for conserving these in the national interest....
, 600,000 euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
from Eurimages
Eurimages
Eurimages is the Council of Europe fund for the co-production, distribution, exhibition and digitisation of European cinematographic works. It aims to promote the European film industry by encouraging the production and distribution of films and fostering co-operation between professionals....
and 3 million Swedish kronor
Swedish krona
The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...
from the Swedish Film Institute
Swedish Film Institute
The Swedish Film Institute was founded in 1963 to support and develop the Swedish film industry. The institute is housed in the Filmhuset building located in Gärdet, Östermalm in Stockholm...
. Additional funding was provided by Film i Väst
Film i Väst
Film i Väst is a film company located in Trollhättan, Sweden, founded in 1992. Lars von Trier used its facilities in his movies, such as Dogville and Manderlay.-Walk of Fame:...
, DR, Arte France
Arte
Arte is a Franco-German TV network. It is a European culture channel and aims to promote quality programming especially in areas of culture and the arts...
, CNC, Canal+
Canal+
Canal+ is a French premium pay television channel launched in 1984. It is 80% owned by the Canal+ Group, which in turn is owned by Vivendi SA. The channel broadcasts several kinds of programming, mostly encrypted...
, BIM Italy, Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Sveriges Television
Sveriges Television
Sveriges Television AB , Sweden's Television, is a national television broadcaster based in Sweden, funded by a compulsory fee to be paid by all television owners...
and Nordisk Film- & TV-Fond. The total budget was 52.5 million Danish kroner.
Cruz was initially attached to play the lead role, but dropped out when the filming schedule of another project was changed. Trier then offered the role to Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress, singer and model. She made her film debut in Oedipus Wrecks, a short film directed by Woody Allen for the anthology New York Stories...
, who accepted it. Dunst had been suggested for the role by the American filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson
Paul Thomas Anderson
Paul Thomas Anderson is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He has written and directed five feature films: Hard Eight , Boogie Nights , Magnolia , Punch-Drunk Love and There Will Be Blood...
in a discussion about the film between him and Trier.
Filming
Principal photography began 22 July and ended 8 September 2010. Interior scenes were shot at Film i Väst's studios in TrollhättanTrollhättan
Trollhättan is a city and the seat of Trollhättan Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 44,498 inhabitants in 2005. It is located 75 km north of Sweden's second-largest city, Gothenburg....
, Sweden. It was the fourth time Trier made a film in Trollhättan. Exteriors included the area surrounding the Tjolöholm Castle
Tjolöholm Castle
Tjolöholm Castle is a country house, built 1898-1904, in Halland, Sweden. It is located on a peninsula in the Kungsbacka Fjord on the Kattegat coast. In 2010, Danish film director Lars Von Trier shot the exterior scenes of the film Melancholia at the castle. The film premiered at the 2011 Cannes...
. The film was recorded digitally with Arri Alexa and Phantom cameras. Trier employed his usual directing style with no rehearsals; instead the actors improvised and received instructions between the takes. The camera was initially operated by Trier, and then left to cinematographer Manuel Alberto Claro
Manuel Alberto Claro
Manuel Alberto Claro is a Danish cinematographer. He was born in Santiago, Chile in 1970. In 1974 he moved to Denmark and since that time lives in Copenhagen....
who repeated Trier's movements. Claro said about the method: "[Trier] wants to experience the situations the first time. He finds an energy in the scenes, presence, and makes up with the photographic aesthetics." Trier explained that the visual style he aimed at in Melancholia was "a clash between what is romantic and grand and stylized and then some form of reality", which he hoped to achieve through the hand-held camerawork. He feared however that it would tilt too much toward the romantic, because of the setting at the upscale wedding, and the castle, which he called "super kitschy".
Post-production
The prelude to Richard WagnerRichard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting...
supplies the main musical theme of the film, and Trier's use of an overture-like opening sequence before the first act is a technique closely associated with Wagner. This choice was inspired by a 30-page section of Marcel Proust
Marcel Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu...
's In Search of Lost Time
In Search of Lost Time
In Search of Lost Time or Remembrance of Things Past is a novel in seven volumes by Marcel Proust. His most prominent work, it is popularly known for its considerable length and the notion of involuntary memory, the most famous example being the "episode of the madeleine." The novel is widely...
, where Proust concludes that Wagner's prelude is the greatest work of art of all time. Melancholia uses music more than any film by Trier since The Element of Crime
The Element of Crime
The Element of Crime is the first feature film directed by noted Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier. The film, released in 1984, is also the first in the director's Europa trilogy...
from 1984. In some scenes, the film was edited in the same pace as the music. Trier said: "It's kind of like a music video that way. It's supposed to be vulgar." Trier also pointed out parallels between both Wagner and editing to the music and the aesthetics of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
.
Visual effects were provided by companies in Poland, Germany and Sweden under special effects supervisor Peter Hjorth. Poland's Platige Image, which previously had worked with Trier on Antichrist
Antichrist (film)
Antichrist is a 2009 arthouse-horror film written and directed by Lars von Trier, starring Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg. It follows horror film conventions and tells the story of a couple who, after the death of their child, retreat to a cabin in the woods where the man experiences strange...
, created most of the effects seen in the film's opening sequence; the earliest instructions were provided by Trier in the summer 2010, after which a team of 19 graphic artists worked on the project for three months.
Release
Soon before the film's premiere, Trier published a "director's statement", where he wrote that he had started to regret having made such a polished film, but that he hoped it would contain some flaws which would make it interesting. The director wrote: "I desired to dive headlong into the abyss of German romanticismGerman Romanticism
For the general context, see Romanticism.In the philosophy, art, and culture of German-speaking countries, German Romanticism was the dominant movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. German Romanticism developed relatively late compared to its English counterpart, coinciding in its...
.... But is that not just another way of expressing defeat? Defeat to the lowest of cinematic common denominators? Romance is abused in all sorts of endlessly dull ways in mainstream products."
The premiere took place at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival
2011 Cannes Film Festival
The 64th annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 11 to May 22, 2011. American actor Robert De Niro served as the president of the jury for the main competition and French filmmaker Michel Gondry headed the jury for the short film competition...
, where the Melancholia was screened in competition on 18 May. The press conference after the screening gained considerable publicity. The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
s Scott Roxborough wrote that "Von Trier has never been very P.C.
Political correctness
Political correctness is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,...
and his Cannes press conferences always play like a dark stand-up routine, but at the Melancholia press conference he took it to another level, tossing a grenade into any sense of public decorum." Trier first joked about working on a hardcore pornographic film which would star Dunst and Gainsbourg. When he was asked about the relation between the influences of German Romanticism in Melancholia and Trier's own German heritage, the director brought up the fact that he had been raised believing his biological father was a Jew, only to learn as an adult that his actual father was a German gentile. He then made jokes about Jews and Nazis, said he understood Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and admired the work of architect Albert Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
, and jokingly announced that he was a Nazi. The Cannes Film Festival issued an official apology for the remarks the same day and clarified that Trier is not a Nazi or an antisemite, then declared the director "persona non grata
Persona non grata
Persona non grata , literally meaning "an unwelcome person", is a legal term used in diplomacy that indicates a proscription against a person entering the country...
" the following day. In practice this meant that he was not allowed to go within 100 meters of the Festival Palace
Palais des Festivals et des Congrès
The first Palais des Festivals et des Congrès was a building built in 1949 to host the Cannes Film Festival. The original building was located on the boulevard of Promenade de la Croisette on the present site of the JW Marriott Cannes...
. He did however stay in Cannes and continued to give promotional interviews.
The film was released in Denmark on 26 May 2011 through Nordisk Film
Nordisk Film
Nordisk Film , established in Denmark in 1906 by Danish filmmaker Ole Olsen, is the oldest continuously operating film studio in the world. Olsen started his company in the Copenhagen suburb of Valby under the name "Ole Olsen's Film Factory" but soon changed it to the Nordisk Film Kompagni...
. Launched on 57 screens, the film entered the box-office chart as number three. A total of 50,000 tickets were eventually sold in Denmark. It will be released in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 30 September, in Germany on 6 October and in Italy on 21 October. Magnolia Pictures
Magnolia Pictures
Magnolia Pictures is an American film distributor, and is a holding of 2929 Entertainment, owned by Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban. Magnolia was formed in 2001 by Bill Banowsky and Eamonn Bowles, and specializes in both foreign and independent films....
acquired the distribution rights for North America and will release it on 11 November, with a pre-theatrical release on 13 October as a rental through such Direct TV vendors as Vudu and Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
. Madman Entertainment
Madman Entertainment
Madman Entertainment is an Australian company that distributes international films as well as Japanese anime and manga in Australia and New Zealand. The company is owned by Funtastic Limited and is one of the major entertainment companies in Australia. It employs 130 people and has an annual...
bought the rights for Australia and New Zealand.
Reception
The film has received mostly positive reviews. Kim Skotte of PolitikenPolitiken
Politiken is a Danish daily broadsheet newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus.The newspaper comes third among Danish newspapers in terms of both number of readers and circulated copies ....
wrote that "there are images – many images – in Melancholia which underline that Lars von Trier is a unique film storyteller", and "the choice of material and treatment of it underlines Lars von Trier's originality." Skotte also compared it to the director's previous film: "Through its material and look, Melancholia creates rifts, but unlike Antichrist I don't feel that there is a fence pole in the rift which is smashed directly down into the meat. You sit on your seat in the cinema and mildly marveled go along in the end of the world." Berlingske
Berlingske
Berlingske may refer to:* Berlingske Tidende, a Danish newspaper* Det Berlingske Officin, its parent company...
s Ebbe Iversen wrote about the film: "It is big, it is enigmatic, and now and then rather irritating. But it is also a visionary work, which makes a gigantic impression." The critic continued: "From time to time the film moves on the edge of kitsch, but with Kirsten Dunst as Justine and Charlotte Gainsbourg as Claire in front, Melancholia is a bold, uneven, unruly and completely unforgettable film."
Steven Loeb of Southampton Patch wrote, "This film has brought the best out of von Trier, as well as his star. Dunst is so good in this film, playing a character unlike any other she has ever attempted, that she won the award for Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival this past May. Even if the film itself were not the incredible work of art that it is, Dunst’s performance alone would be incentive enough to recommend it."
Sukhdev Sandhu wrote from Cannes in The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
that the film "at times comes close to being a tragi-comic opera about the end of the world", and that "The apocalypse, when it comes, is so beautifully rendered that the film cements the quality of fairy tale that its palatial setting suggests." About the acting performances, Sandhu wrote: "All of them are excellent here, but Dunst is exceptional, so utterly convincing in the lead role – trouble, serene, a fierce savant – that it feels like a career breakthrough. ... Meanwhile, Gainsbourg, for whom the end of the world must seem positively pastoral after the horrors she went through in Antichrist, locates in Claire a fragility that ensures she's more than a whipping girl for social satire." Sandhu brought up one reservation in the review, in which he gave the film the highest possible rating of five stars: "there is, as always with Von Trier's work, a degree of intellectual determinism that can be off-putting; he illustrates rather than truly explore ideas." Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw is a British writer and film critic. He was educated at Cambridge University, where he was President of Footlights.Bradshaw is a film critic for The Guardian...
, writing for The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, called the film "clunky" and "tiresome", judging it to be "conceived with[out] real passion or imagination", and not "well written or convincingly acted in any way at all", and gave it two stars out of a possible five.
Dunst received the Best Actress Award
Best Actress Award (Cannes Film Festival)
The Best Actress Award is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the jury from the 'official section' of films at the festival. It was first awarded in 1946.-Award Winners:-External links:* * ....
at the closing ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival.
See also
- 2011 in film2011 in filmThe year 2011 is notable for containing the release of the most film sequels in a single year, at 27 sequels. The following tables list films that are in production or have completed production and will be released in the United States and Canada at some point in 2011.- Highest-grossing films :...
- Cinema of DenmarkCinema of DenmarkDenmark has been producing films since 1897 and since the 1980s has maintained a steady stream of product due largely to funding by the state-supported Danish Film Institute. Historically, Danish films have been noted for their realism, religious and moral themes, sexual frankness and technical...
- Impact events in popular culture
- List of apocalyptic films
- Melencolia IMelencolia IMelencolia I is a 1514 engraving by the German Renaissance master Albrecht Dürer. It is an allegorical composition which has been the subject of many interpretations...
, a famous 1513 engraving by Albrecht Dürer featuring a somber mood and a mysterious cosmic event occurring in the distance