After watching Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia, I am only now coming out of a Kierkagaardian haze and it’s been three days. They’re a cheery bunch, the Danes.

This film is not for people who like happy films. Put simply, the mysterious planet Melancholia is about to collide with Earth. Von Trier is pretty much saying: the material world is full of conceit and meaninglessness, there is no god, nothing is sacred - not even rituals, memories and human relationships, in the grand scheme of life, we are insignificant, there is nothing after death, the cosmos deserves respect so give yourself over. The film is not entirely misanthropic and Von Trier does offer salvation through acceptance of truth and the dignity of the human spirit. He does so deftly and beautifully through the character Justine, played by Kirsten Dunst who won Best Actress at Cannes in 2011 for her performance. Sure the film is full of flaws and the cinematography can make one feel sea sick, but this is a thoughtful and very effective work of art. Von Trier is director who clearly understands depression and his ability to convey this in Melancholia is expressionistic and poignant.

One thing Haze and I were speaking about afterwards was the difference in the way European and American cinema handle Armageddon. When the Danes do the end of the world, they face it head on and philosophise nihilistically about the reality of nothingness. When Americans approach the end, it is only a mere hiccup in human progress and they invariably save the world in an escapist spectacle, wiping out the possibility that any kind of fear or darkness exists. I guess that’s Hollywood for you.

— From Melbourne.

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