I know I’m a little bit late to the game on this one. Melancholia came out last year. I have wanted to see it for ages, but just haven’t gotten around to it. Yesterday it was on Showtime and I was home and I figured it was fate. …Or just lucky scheduling. Whatever.
If you haven’t seen it or heard about it, the pitch tag line was “a beautiful movie about the end of the world.” It’s a bit heavy.
Like I said, a bit heavy. I sat on my couch just staring at the screen for about 15 min. when it was over. Then I pulled myself together and decided I needed to share it with you.
This is the part where I tell you what the movie is about. If you watched the trailer, you know it doesn’t have a happy ending so it’s not like there are really too many spoilers. The movie is split into two parts – one titled for each sister. Part I – Justine, takes place on the night of Justine’s wedding. She married Alexander Skarsgaard, which you would think would make her happy, but it doesn’t. On the way into the reception she notices a reddish star in the sky. The next day when she’s out riding with her sister, she sees the star isn’t there anymore. You later find out it’s because it was blocked out by Melancholia, a planet that is going to be orbiting dangerously near earth.
In Part II – Claire, Claire freaks out as the “fly-by,” the night when Melancholia passes closest to earth, gets closer. She’s worried it’s not actually going to fly-by so much as crash into. Her husband, Jack Bauer, keeps telling her she’s just being silly. Oh and Justine has fallen into a deep depression, like can’t even bathe herself depression, and moved in with them. Turns out Jack was wrong and is not going to be able to save the world this time. Claire freaks out and tries to run away with her young son only to realize there’s nowhere to run. Justine remains calm, possibly because of her “we’re all going to die someday anyway” attitude about life, and tries to keep her sister and her nephew calm as they sit and wait to die.
(Photos: Zentropa Entertainments)
Dark, depressing plot-line aside, the film features not one, but two of my style favorites. Kirsten Dunst (Justine) has made quite the comeback for me both sartorially and cinematically. I hadn’t seen her in much recently and now she’s starred in the last two movies I’ve seen (the other one was Bachelorette which was great, FYI). I like that her everyday looks could be my everyday looks. She’s put together but not over the top look at me! Look how fashionable I am!!!
And then there’s Charlotte Gainsbourg (Claire), daughter of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birken. She’s always just so cool, so chic, so…French.
So, that was my Sunday afternoon. I’m going to go back to brooding now or maybe I’ll go watch the Emmy Red Carpet, that’s a little lighter.
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