''Melancholia'' is a 2011
apocalyptic drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...
art film
An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily f ...
written and directed by
Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier ('' né'' Trier; 30 April 1956) is a Danish filmmaker, actor, and lyricist. Having garnered a reputation as a highly ambitious, polarizing filmmaker, he has been the subject of several controversies: Cannes, in addition to nomina ...
and starring
Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Caroline Dunst (; born April 30, 1982) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the short ''Oedipus Wrecks'' directed by Woody Allen in the anthology film '' New York Stories'' (1989). She then gained recognition for her ro ...
,
Charlotte Gainsbourg
Charlotte Lucy Gainsbourg (; born 21 July 1971) is a British-French actress and singer. She is the daughter of English actress Jane Birkin and French musician Serge Gainsbourg. After making her musical debut with her father on the song " Lemo ...
, and
Kiefer Sutherland, with
Alexander Skarsgård
Alexander Johan Hjalmar Skarsgård (; born August 25, 1976) is a Swedish actor. Born in Stockholm, he began acting at age seven but quit at 13. After serving in the Swedish military, Skarsgård returned to acting and gained his first role in th ...
,
Brady Corbet
Brady James Monson Corbet (; born August 17, 1988) is an American actor and filmmaker. Corbet is known for playing Mason Freeland in the film ''Thirteen'', Brian Lackey in the film '' Mysterious Skin'', Alan Tracy in the 2004 film '' Thunderbird ...
, Cameron Spurr,
Charlotte Rampling,
Jesper Christensen
Jesper Christensen (; born 16 May 1948) 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 my ...
,
John Hurt
Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 25 January 2017) was an English actor whose career spanned over five decades. Hurt was regarded as one of Britain's finest actors. Director David Lynch described him as "simply the greatest actor in t ...
,
Stellan Skarsgård
Stellan Skarsgård (, ; born 13 June 1951) is a Swedish actor. He is known for his collaborations with director Lars von Trier appearing in ''Breaking the Waves'' (1996), ''Dancer in the Dark'' (2000), '' Dogville'' (2007), ''Melancholia'' (201 ...
, and
Udo Kier
Udo Kierspe (born 14 October 1944), known professionally as Udo Kier, is a German actor. Known primarily as a character actor, Kier has appeared in more than 220 films in both leading and supporting roles throughout Europe and the Americas. He h ...
in supporting roles. The film's story revolves around two sisters, one of whom marries just before a
rogue planet
A rogue planet (also termed a free-floating planet (FFP), interstellar, nomad, orphan, starless, unbound or wandering planet) is an interstellar object of planetary-mass, therefore smaller than fusors (stars and brown dwarfs) and without a h ...
is about to collide with Earth. ''Melancholia'' is the second film in von Trier's unofficially titled ''Depression Trilogy''. It was preceded in 2009 by ''
Antichrist
In Christian eschatology, the Antichrist refers to people prophesied by the Bible to oppose Jesus Christ and substitute themselves in Christ's place before the Second Coming. The term Antichrist (including one plural form)1 John ; . 2 John . ...
'' and followed by ''
Nymphomaniac'' in 2013.
On 18 May 2011, ''Melancholia'' premiered at the
64th Cannes Film Festival, where it was received with critical acclaim and Dunst received the festival's
Best Actress Award for her performance, which was a common area of praise among critics. Although it has detractors, many critics and film scholars have considered the film to be a personal masterpiece; claiming that the film considered to be the best of the trilogy and one of the von Trier's best works. Along with von Trier's previous film ''
Dogville
''Dogville'' is a 2003 avant-garde drama film written and directed by Lars von Trier, and starring an ensemble cast led by Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Paul Bettany, Chloë Sevigny, Stellan Skarsgård, Udo Kier, Ben Gazzara, Harriet Anderss ...
'' (2003), it was later included in the
2016 poll of the greatest films since 2000 conducted by BBC.
It has since been featured in various listings of the best films of 2011, the best films of the 2010s, and the best films of the 21st century.
Plot
A dream sequence showcases slow-motion shots of the main characters, a collapsing horse, falling birds, butterflies, different planets, and images of the Earth colliding with a
rogue planet
A rogue planet (also termed a free-floating planet (FFP), interstellar, nomad, orphan, starless, unbound or wandering planet) is an interstellar object of planetary-mass, therefore smaller than fusors (stars and brown dwarfs) and without a h ...
.
Part One: Justine
The dream belongs to Justine, who weds Michael in a castle owned by her brother-in-law John and her sister Claire. Justine and Michael are late for the reception due to their stretch
limousine
A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment.
A very long wheelbase luxury sedan (with more than four doors) driven by a pr ...
's difficulty traversing the narrow and winding rural road. Upon their arrival, Justine sees a star in the sky shining brightly. John, an astronomy enthusiast, explains it is the star
Antares
Antares is the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius. It has the Bayer designation α Scorpii, which is Latinised to Alpha Scorpii. Often referred to as "the heart of the scorpion", Antares is flanked by σ Scorpii and τ ...
. The festivities are less than harmonious; Justine's divorced parents Gaby and Dexter verbally abuse each other in front of the guests. Justine, to John and Claire's annoyance, keeps wandering away. Justine's employer Jack, who announces her promotion to
art director of his advertising firm, expects her to write a slogan for a new campaign during the celebration. Justine finds herself pushed into a role that others have chosen for her and falls back into
depression, from which she has been suffering for a long time. Toward the end of the party, which goes on until the early hours of the morning, she quits her job in an argument and calls off her marriage to Michael after cheating on him. Early the following morning, while horseriding with Claire, Justine notices
Antares
Antares is the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius. It has the Bayer designation α Scorpii, which is Latinised to Alpha Scorpii. Often referred to as "the heart of the scorpion", Antares is flanked by σ Scorpii and τ ...
is no longer visible in the sky.
Part Two: Claire
Justine returns home with Claire, but sinks even further into depression, and is welcomed back to John and Claire's estate, where she struggles to leave her bed and is unable to eat. According to John, Antares's absence is due to the rogue planet "Melancholia". The planet appeared from behind the Sun and passed in front of Antares. John announces that according to the scientists' calculations, Melancholia will pass in close proximity to Earth, but will not collide with it. Claire looks anxiously at Melancholia's path on the Internet, learning of a predicted collision with Earth. John tries to calm her down but secretly secures food and gasoline. In view of the approaching planet, Claire increasingly loses her composure, while Justine longs for the end of the world and "sunbathes" naked in the planet's glow at night.
Strange omens pile up in the days that follow. The electricity in the castle goes out, the butler does not come to work, the horses in the stable are restless,
St. Elmo's fire
St. Elmo's fire — also called Witchfire or Witch's Fire — is a weather phenomenon in which luminous plasma is created by a corona discharge from a rod-like object such as a mast, spire, chimney, or animal hornHeidorn, K., Weather Element ...
s emerge at various times, and the weather changes erratically. Melancholia initially flies past Earth, seemingly vindicating John. Melancholia then crosses Earth's orbit a second time, however, now moving directly toward Earth. Upon this discovery, John commits suicide by overdosing on pills. Claire hides his death from the family and attempts to flee with her son Leo, but the cars will not start. Justine declines to spend her final moments with Claire on the terrace by candlelight and wine. Instead, Justine calms Leo down by suggesting that they build a "magic cave" out of branches. Shortly before the collision, Justine, Claire, and Leo sit under the "cave" and hold hands. While Justine and Leo seem apathetic to, or at peace with their impending doom, Claire panics and despairs. Melancholia finally collides with Earth, engulfing them in a sea of flames as both planets shatter against each other.
Cast
Production
Inspiration
Von Trier's initial inspiration for the film came from a
depressive episode
A major depressive episode (MDE) is a period characterized by the symptoms of major depressive disorder. Those affected primarily have a depressed mood for at least two weeks or more, and a loss of interest or pleasure in everyday activities. Other ...
he suffered. The film is a Danish production by
Zentropa, with
international co-producers in Denmark, Sweden, France, and Germany.
Filming took place in Sweden. ''Melancholia'' prominently features music from the prelude to
Richard Wagner's opera ''
Tristan und Isolde
''Tristan und Isolde'' (''Tristan and Isolde''), WWV 90, is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the 12th-century romance Tristan and Iseult by Gottfried von Strassburg. It was comp ...
'' (1857–1859). It is the second entry in von Trier's unofficially titled "Depression Trilogy", preceded by ''
Antichrist
In Christian eschatology, the Antichrist refers to people prophesied by the Bible to oppose Jesus Christ and substitute themselves in Christ's place before the Second Coming. The term Antichrist (including one plural form)1 John ; . 2 John . ...
'' and followed by ''
Nymphomaniac''.
Development
The idea for the film originated during a therapy session
Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier ('' né'' Trier; 30 April 1956) is a Danish filmmaker, actor, and lyricist. Having garnered a reputation as a highly ambitious, polarizing filmmaker, he has been the subject of several controversies: Cannes, in addition to nomina ...
attended during treatments for his depression. A therapist had told von Trier that depressive people tend to act more calmly than others under heavy pressure, because they already expect bad things to happen. Von 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. Von 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 von Trier and the Spanish actress
Penélope Cruz
Penélope Cruz Sánchez (; ; born 28 April 1974) is a Spanish actress. Known for her roles in films of several genres, particularly those in the Spanish language, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and a British ...
. Cruz wrote that she would like to work with von Trier, and spoke enthusiastically about the play ''
The Maids
''The Maids'' (french: Les Bonnes, links=no) is a 1947 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.
The play ...
'' by
Jean Genet. As von 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 von Trier himself.
The name was inspired by the
Marquis de Sade novel ''
Justine'' (1791).
''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.
The production received 7.9 million
Danish kroner from the
Danish Film Institute
The Danish Film Institute ( da, Det Danske Filminstitut) is the national Danish agency responsible for supporting and encouraging film and cinema culture, and for conserving these in the national interest.
Also known as ''Filmhuset'' ("the film ...
, 600,000 euro from
Eurimages
Eurimages is a cultural support fund of the Council of Europe, established in 1989. Eurimages promotes independent filmmaking by providing financial support to feature-length fiction, animation, and documentary films. In doing so, it encourages ...
,and 3 million
Swedish kronor from the
Swedish Film Institute.
Additional funding was provided by
Film i Väst
Film i Väst (English: "Film in West") is a film company located in Trollhättan, Sweden, nicknamed "Trollywood"), founded in 1992 by the Älvsborg County Council. Lars von Trier used its facilities in his movies, such as ''Dogville'' and ''Mand ...
,
DR,
Arte
Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture.
It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plu ...
France,
CNC,
Canal+
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...
, BIM Italy, Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen,
Sveriges Television, and Nordisk Film & TV-Fond.
The total budget was 52.5 million Danish kroner.
Cruz was initially expected to play the lead role, but dropped out when the filming schedule of another project was changed. Von Trier then offered the role to
Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Caroline Dunst (; born April 30, 1982) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the short ''Oedipus Wrecks'' directed by Woody Allen in the anthology film '' New York Stories'' (1989). She then gained recognition for her ro ...
, 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 von Trier.
Filming
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...
began 22 July and ended 8 September 2010. Interior scenes were shot at Film i Väst's studios in
Trollhättan
Trollhättan () is the 23rd-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Trollhättan Municipality, Västra Götaland County. It is situated by Göta älv, near the lake Vänern, and has a population of approximately 50,000 in the city proper. It is loc ...
, Sweden. It was the fourth time von Trier made a film in Trollhättan.
Exteriors included the area surrounding the
Tjolöholm Castle.
The film was recorded digitally with
Arri Alexa
The Arri Alexa (stylised as ΛLEXΛ) is a digital motion picture camera system developed by Arri. First introduced in April 2010, the camera was Arri's first major transition into digital cinematography after previous efforts such as the Arrif ...
and Phantom cameras. Von 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 von Trier, and then left to cinematographer
Manuel Alberto Claro who repeated von Trier's movements. Claro said about the method: "
on Trierwants to experience the situations the first time. He finds an energy in the scenes, presence, and makes up with the photographic aesthetics."
Von 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
kitsch
Kitsch ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as naïve imitation, overly-eccentric, gratuitous, or of banal taste.
The avant-garde opposed kitsch as melodramatic and superficial affiliation wi ...
y".
Post-production
The prelude to
Richard Wagner's ''
Tristan und Isolde
''Tristan und Isolde'' (''Tristan and Isolde''), WWV 90, is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the 12th-century romance Tristan and Iseult by Gottfried von Strassburg. It was comp ...
'' supplies the main musical theme of the film, and von Trier's use of an overture-like opening sequence before the first act is a technique closely associated with
Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
. 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 von Trier since ''
The Element of Crime'' from 1984. In some scenes, the film was edited in the same pace as the music. Von Trier said: "It's kind of like a music video that way. It's supposed to be vulgar."
Von Trier also pointed out parallels between both the film's usage of
Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
and the film's editing to the music and the aesthetics of
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
.
Visual effects were provided by companies in Poland, Germany, and Sweden under visual effects supervisor Peter Hjorth. Poland's Platige Image, which previously had worked with von Trier on ''
Antichrist
In Christian eschatology, the Antichrist refers to people prophesied by the Bible to oppose Jesus Christ and substitute themselves in Christ's place before the Second Coming. The term Antichrist (including one plural form)1 John ; . 2 John . ...
'', created most of the effects seen in the film's opening sequence; the earliest instructions were provided by von Trier in the summer 2010, after which a team of 19 visual effects artists worked on the project for three months.
Release
In his
director's statement, von Trier 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:
"I desired to dive headlong into the abyss of German romanticism ... 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 ''Melancholia'' was screened in competition on 18 May.
The press conference after the screening gained considerable publicity. ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...
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."
Von Trier first joked about working on a
hardcore pornographic film that would star Dunst and Gainsbourg. When asked about the relation between the influences of
German Romanticism in ''Melancholia'' and von Trier's own German heritage, the director brought up that he had been raised believing his biological father was a
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
, only to learn as an adult that his actual father was a German. He then made jokes about Jews and
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
s, said he understood
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
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 von Trier is not a Nazi or an
anti-Semite, then declared the director "
persona non grata" the following day. This meant he was not allowed to go within 100 meters of the
Festival Palace, but he did remain in Cannes and continued to give promotional interviews.
On 26 May 2011, the film was released in Denmark 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 was 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 is an American film distributor. It is a subsidiary of Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's 2929 Entertainment.
Magnolia was formed in 2001 by Bill Banowsky and Eamonn Bowles, and specializes in both foreign and independent films. Ma ...
acquired the distribution rights for North America and it was released on 11 November, with a pre-theatrical release on 13 October as a rental through such Direct TV vendors as
Vudu and
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...
.
Madman Entertainment
Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, is an Australian distribution and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising in feature films, documentaries and television series across theatr ...
bought the rights for Australia and New Zealand.
Reception
Critical response
On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, 80% of 206 critic reviews are positive, and the average rating is 7.5/10. The website's critical consensus states, "''Melancholia''s dramatic tricks are more obvious than they should be, but this is otherwise a showcase for Kirsten Dunst's acting and for Lars von Trier's profound, visceral vision of depression and destruction." According to
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the film received "generally favorable reviews", based on an average score of 80/100 from 40 critics. A 2017 data analysis of Metacritic reviews by ''
Gizmodo UK'' found the film to be the most critically divisive film of recent years.
Kim Skotte of ''
Politiken
''Politiken'' is a leading Danish daily broadsheet newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 1884 and played a role in the formation of the Danish Social Liberal Party. Since 1970 it has been indepe ...
'' compared the film with the director's previous work:
"There are images—many images—in ''Melancholia'' which underline that Lars von Trier is a unique film storyteller... The choice of material and treatment of it underlines Lars von Trier's originality... 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."
''
Berlingskes 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. From time to time the film moves on the edge of kitsch, but with Justine played by Kirsten Dunst and Claire played by Charlotte Gainsbourg as the leading characters, ''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'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'' 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 actors' performances, Sandhu wrote: "all of them are excellent here, but Dunst is exceptional, so utterly convincing in the lead role—troubled, 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 (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire''.
Early life and education
Bradshaw was educated at Haberdasher ...
, writing for ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', stated "Windup merchant Lars von Trier is back with a film about the end of the world – but it's not to be taken entirely seriously", and gave it three stars out of a possible five.
In 2020, amid the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, an ''
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
'' culture writer found "the perspective of a catastrophe-minded person thrust into a state of actual catastrophe finds perhaps no better creative expression" than in the film. ''
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
Culture'' stated that "arguably no film has been more profoundly compassionate in its depiction of a mental crisis".
at the closing ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival. The film won three awards at the
for Best Film, Best Cinematographer (Manuel Alberto Claro), and Best Designer (Jette Lehmann).
The U.S.
selected ''Melancholia'' as the best picture of 2011 and named Kirsten Dunst best actress. The film was also nominated for four
'' magazine listed ''Melancholia'' third on its Best Films of 2011 list. The film also received 12 votes—seven from critics and five from directors—in the
'' poll of the greatest movies ever made, making it one of the few films of the 21st century to appear within the top 250.
In 2016, the film was named as the 43rd best film of the 21st century, from a poll of 177 film critics from around the world. In 2019, ''
'' named it the eighth best film of the 2010s. That same year, ''
'' named ''Melancholia'' the best film of the 2010s.
, Australia. The cast featured
as John, and Maude Davey as Gaby, while child actors Liam Smith and Alexander Artemov shared the role of Leo.
In the adaptation, the character of Dexter, Justine's father is omitted, while Justine's boss, Jack, is combined with John.