“when two worlds collide..."
03-31-2012 Melancholia - In Retrospect -
The very definition of normal is a study in perceived reality and customary assimilation. Society has standards that help us define a person in terms of success based on these guidelines. Melancholia is the latest cinematic expression of acclaimed director, Lars Von Trier. Within the secluded landscape of a wealthy retreat, Von Trier sets the stage for the earth’s possible annihilation in solitude, confining us to a small hereditary construct; we are presented with very profound questions while examining their inevitable reaction to fate.
The film’s introduction is a fantastic and surreal insight into Lars vision. Salvador Dali-esque still frame capture set in harmony with symphonic overture creates a subliminal and unconscious art with the intention of logical comprehensibility at a later time. A jarring and grandly displayed seed that takes root long after the credits roll, the sequences are based on images unfamiliar when first presented yet seem to slowly unravel leaving permanent impression in the mind. The viewer then begins uncovering the director’s statements on the deep rooted connection we have with time and space as boundless, reminding us to an even further degree that the balance between earth and humanity is a fragile and symbiotic instrument.
The story itself revolves around the two sisters of opposite emotional spectrums. Justine (Kirsten Dunst) is the unstable and destructive sibling who seems only able to hold herself together in public long enough to plan her escape, disappearing into unpredictability or some debilitating episode of despair. Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourgh) is the counter weight, a stately woman of discipline and order that uses all of her wealth and resources to care selflessly for Justine out of a delicate combination of both duty and love. Yet in the midst of her compassion, frustration and heavy burden often give way to moments of hatred and the increasing and ever present disdain of her academic minded and impatient husband (Kiefer Sutherland).
The events that follow examine the dynamic differences between Justine and Claire in everyday circumstances as we veer towards the impending possibility of annihilation. What makes this film so rare is what that relationship uncovers and how it relates to our very modern lives. This story itself gives center stage to the instability of Justine. It wants us to believe that she is mentally ill and by our limited perspective she is. As the scope widens, the lines blur rather quickly as the world we know becomes in question. Is Justine’s illness completely predicated on her lack of ability to function in our sophisticated web of tension and conformity? Is her sickness some sort of masochistic mental trigger brought on by the very trite and superficial prison of hypocrisy that civilized society adheres to?
As structure and edict disappear, so begins the polar shift and both sisters’ inevitable displacement. The inherent mental instabilities in Justine’s character transforms into a pillar of strength when order is no longer relevant. Claire and her husband’s grasp weaken under the very real threat overhead. Is insanity in some cases merely a matter of situation? Or is the more important artifact this subliminal statement on society and its narcissistic perception of self now being humbled by its chaotic master and pupil.
The moon lit love affair between Justine and Melancholia is a pivotal moment of metaphoric brilliance that really exposes the true eroticism and strange magnetic connection she posses to the metaphysical universe as a whole. A character entrenched in a deeper understanding of melancholia as bliss. She sprawls out with a worshipping gaze ready to give herself away with pleasure to self sacrifice; reveling in the cosmic beauty of being nothing but energy in a symphony of universal chaos.
The absence of worry, the lack of repercussion; it transcends the very fixtures of our plane of existence. She speaks fearless without a word for every moment past, present, and future unmercifully swallowed by the dark night. A moment in time when u recognize that everything they told and wanted us to be really doesn’t matter because we are free. Free to stare up at the long and vast nothing, a holy and hollowed erotic prayer answered in the form of oblivion. Lost in everything we become a part of it all. Our heroine, transformed from destructive encumbrance of our rigid society to the perilous and provocative prodigy of existential nihilism.
-Jason Mazzariello
Song For The Moment
Massive Attack - Paradise Circus - Remix - Gui Boratto.Mp3