SALON

Friday, Apr 8, 2011 7:09 PM UTC

Lars von Trier’s “Melancholia”: an apocalyptic wedding

What happens when "Rachel Getting Married" meets "Donnie Darko?"

By

Topics: Directors, Celebrity, Movie news, Television,

Lars von Trier's No Dogmas were harmed in the making of this movie.

Those of you who saw Danish director Lars von Trier’s last film “Antichrist” may be scared away from his latest feature, “Melancholia.” Don’t worry: as far as I know, this movie features way less genital mutilation and talking foxes.

It does however, have an hodgepodge cast seemingly picked from names out of a European bowler/and or ironic trucker hat, with stars like Kirsten Dunst, Alexander Skarsgard (“True Blood”) and his father Stellan (“Good Will Hunting”), Kiefer Sutherland, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Charlotte Rampling (“The Night Porter), and John Hurt.

As for the plot, the Dogma 95 creator seems to have abandoned his realistic style halfway through the movie for a more Richard Kelly aesthetic. Kirsten Dunst is getting married to Skarsgard, and their wedding is being held at the house of his sister (Gainsbourg) and husband (Sutherland). There is some family melodrama, and then there is a lot of hailing and odd weather. Maybe Gainsbourg hates Dunst because of an incestuous love of her brother? Whoops, no time to find out, the world is ending.


By the way, the title of the film comes from that red planet headed straight for Earth, because NASA is into giving celestial bodies very emo-sounding names these days.

I’m not sure about “Melancholia’s” chances: too many random actors can ruin a good show, and having Dunst and Skarsgard as the film’s leads when they are arguably the least interesting of the players could mean long stretches of yawning. Then again, it could be “Festen” meets “Southland Tales,” which is a film I would very much like to see.

Drew Grant is a staff writer for Salon. Follow her on Twitter at @videodrew. More Drew Grant.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 11 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations