With films like Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark and Antichrist, Lars von Trier is one of them most controversial and at the same time most brilliant directors of our time. One of the strokes of genius in his work is the painfully intense drama Melancholia about the end of the earth, which will be shown on TV this weekend.
Melancholia shows the end of the world as an intimate drama with incredible images
The plot revolves around the two sisters Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and begins with the wedding of Justine and Michael (Alexander Skarsgård). Already the prelude exudes a gloomy foreboding, while the celebration escalates more and more.
Melancholia then revolves around nothing less than the ultimate demise of the earth by colliding with a new, unstoppable planet. However, Lars von Trier stages this event not as an effect spectacle in the Roland Emmerich style.
Instead, the director focuses on the sisters’ relationship, which is shaped by Justine’s recurring depression. Again and again Lars von Trier touches on this hypnotically overstylized sequencesthat turn apocalyptic chaos into haunting beauty. However, he never loses sight of the intimacy between the characters, which in his film even outshines the finality of the end of the world.
Together with the outstanding acting performances of Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kirsten Dunst & Co., Melancholia is an absolutely exceptional film about a well-worn genre topic that is rarely seen in this form.
When and where is Melancholia on TV?
The Lars von Trier masterpiece will be released on August 12, 2023 at 9:45 p.m. on ONE aired.
*. If you make a purchase through these links or sign up for a subscription, we will receive a commission. .