Melancholia by Lars von Trier

This weekend, while snuggled up in my bed, I watched a film called Melancholia. It was directed by Lars von Trier, an often misunderstood director and a very depressed person. His movie was inspired by a realization he had that depressed people will often stay calm during stressful situations.

Melancholia has two parts: Part I (Justine) and Part II (Claire). The first half of the movie is entirely different from the second part, especially visually. Part I is very orange and green and brown, while Part II is very blue and black and green.

Part I:

Part II:

I loved the contrast between the two parts. The first part is very slow-moving. It appears to be almost a normal wedding party, except that the bride (Kirsten Dunst) seems to be having a huge difficulty with herself and with those around her. She is trapped within herself and it seemed to me, watching, that she's been trapped within herself for her entire life. The second part seemed almost rushed because all of the tangible story had to be fitted into it. Basically, a planet called Melancholia is flying past the Earth in outer space. Claire, the subject of Part II is very frightened about this fly-by planet. I thought that the darker colors on the screen corresponded well with the emotions being portrayed in the story.

The soundtrack was very different than most movies, to me. It consisted of a lot of Normal Wedding Songs (like "Fly Me to the Moon", "La Bamba", etc.), but I loved the extensive use of one piece, "Tristan and Isolde" by the composer Richard Wagner. It would swell whenever anything strange or important was happening throughout the entire movie, but especially during Part II. It gave the movie a sort of ballet- or theater-like quality. It reminded me that the story wasn't real.
I love this piece of music. I suggest just laying down in your room or in a place you feel comfortable and listening. I've found that it moves in tune and in time with my emotions and my thoughts, which is something very powerful for a composition to do.

I really enjoyed the imagery in this movie and the director's take on capturing emotional experiences. I will definitely be watching von Trier's other movies to see what he does a little bit clearer!