Day 12: Melancholia

A planet called Melancholia is approaching Earth. Scientists believe it’s going to pass right by without doing any damage but scientists can be wrong sometimes.

During the first 8 minutes of this film all I could think was “Uuuuggh I’ve stumbled upon a dreadful art student’s film.” You’ve got a woman running in slow motion, carrying a child, across a golf course, a beautiful shot of a horse lying down, a bride being attacked by what I thought were branches but turned out to be yarn (easy mistake…). All in slow motion. Pretty sure they could’ve done away with the first 8 minutes. It immediately put me on my guard thinking the film was going to be horrendous when in actual fact, it was not.

We’re treated to the wedding reception of Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Michael (Alexander Skarsgård). The party paid for and organised by her sister, Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and John (Kiefer Sutherland), who don’t let them forget it. Throughout the lavish affair Justine is not happy. It’s clear she has been like this for a long time but it seems to be amplified here. Perhaps because everyone expects her to be happy and isn’t accepting of how she feels. Just because you throw money at something and make it into a massive event doesn’t mean it will make someone happy. Michael leaves Justine because apparently he can’t deal with how she is despite the fact they were obviously in a relationship longer than one night so he would know how she acts. While I can understand the frustration that what you intended failed, I’m siding with Justine here. They all know that this is how she is so to expect her to behave differently just because they put in some effort is selfish.

Claire has clearly been the perfect hostess all her life and she does seem quite the natural. But with the planet looming closer she begins to unravel. The end of the world isn’t something you can manage away, it is real and she finds it terrifying. Her role in the film was the more interesting for me because it followed her descent from perfect hostess to frightened human. Life is going to end and she doesn’t know how to handle it. Her husband tries to reassure her that the planet will pass right on by and it’ll be beautiful and yet she never feels quite at ease. Her fears are confirmed when she finds him dead; he realised what was really going to happen and he killed himself. I thought he was a coward and I’ve never thought someone who killed themselves was a coward before so it was a surprising moment for me.

The film has made me think what I would do if I knew the world was going to end. Would I spend it with anyone? Would I do anything special? And you know, I don’t think I would spend it with anyone. I would try to get to a really tall building and I would watch the world end and I would do it alone. I wouldn’t call anyone to tell them I love them because what would be the point, really? If we are all going to die at the same moment, what does it matter? I can’t take that information with me anywhere (I don’t believe in an afterlife) so it just seems to be a waste. Especially since it would most likely not be sincere; of course you’ll tell people you love them, you’re hardly likely to tell them you’ve hated them all the time you’ve known them. I imagine people will be frantically telling others that they loved them. I love you. I love you? Those are just words. Love is shown through actions and you don’t have time to do anything now because the world is going to end. If you really loved them you would’ve shown them before now.

The world might not end for each of us at the exact same time but when you die, the world has ended for you. And we are all going to die. We forget it, put it off but it is definitely going to happen. If you love someone, why not let them know now? That way you can put your love into action and then it will mean something. Words, at the end of the day, are not enough. Do.

8/10