Melancholia (2011) on Netflix
On her wedding day, Justine arrives with Michael at the castle of her sister Claire. The rogue planet Melancholia nears Earth, and Justine's long depression returns.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb7.1/10210,120 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes80%
Trailer
Plot summary
Michael and Justine arrive late to their wedding reception at the castle of Justine's sister Claire and Claire's husband John, held up by their stretch limousine on the narrow rural road. Justine notices a bright star, and John, an astronomy enthusiast, says it is Antares. Justine's divorced parents, Gaby and Dexter, insult each other before the guests, and Justine keeps wandering off. Her employer Jack announces her promotion and wants campaign work from her during the celebration. Justine falls back into the depression she has long suffered from. A rogue planet called Melancholia is on a course toward Earth.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Melancholia (2011)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film grew out of a therapy session Lars von Trier attended for his own depression, where a therapist told him that depressive people tend to stay calmer than others under extreme pressure because they already expect disaster.
- At the film's Cannes press conference, von Trier joked about being a Nazi, said he understood Hitler and admired architect Albert Speer after bringing up his German heritage; the festival apologized for the remarks and declared him persona non grata the next day.
- The two sisters at the center of the film began as an idea von Trier developed for Penélope Cruz after she wrote to him praising Jean Genet's play The Maids, whose two maids evolved into Justine and Claire; Justine's personality was drawn largely from von Trier himself.
- The film's use of the prelude from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde as an overture-like opening was inspired by a 30-page passage in Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time, where Proust judges that Wagner's prelude is the single greatest work of art ever made.
- Kirsten Dunst got the lead only after Cruz, who had initially been expected to play it, dropped out when the filming schedule of another project was changed; the American filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson had suggested Dunst to von Trier.
- Von Trier operated the camera himself early in the shoot with no rehearsals, letting the actors improvise between takes, before handing the camera to cinematographer Manuel Alberto Claro, who then repeated von Trier's own movements.
