Melancholia : This film is not about depression.

Well ok, you can say it is. But I like to think that it's about something Slavoj Zizek talks about many times : The injunction to enjoy. Each person is supposed to "Live life to the fullest" and to "Believe he can fly" all the time. So when at the very beginning of the film when the couple keeps on kissing each other, when everyone is saying "I want you to be happy", when Michael gives Justine that photo of the apple orchard, when over and over again everyone wants to ensure that they have a good time this theme is clear. It is exactly that same thing Claire proposes to Justine near the end of the film : "To sit on the terrace tasting wine when it happens". This is why Justine replies coldly "I think your plan is *beep* She is the only person in the film who tries to defy this order to enjoy, to have fun. Even at the very end, she has her back to Melancholia when it crashes into earth while Claire still cannot rid herself of looking at it - enjoying it. Watch :

Bingo. Spot on. I am so sick of mandated happiness in this country. Happiness is an effect not a cause. If your life sucks, there's no reason to be happy.

Yes, this film would have been better if Christine did not have her `super powers` which would eliminate any debate about whether she had a sense of impending doom. She is saying yes to life and liberty but raises a finger to happiness.

Who the EFF is Christine? Lars himself said this movie is about depression. If the artist says "it's an apple." Then it's an apple, even if it looks like a puppy to you.

What's it going to be then, eh?

Who the EFF is Lars? There is no 'Lars' in the film.

Umm. Lars von Trier. He WROTE AND DIRECTED the film. Effing "dumrat" is GD right.

And apparently, you know nothing about clinical depression. It's not about flipping the bird to enjoyment. It's an illness. It is chronic, it is debilitating, and it is life threatening.

What's it going to be then, eh?

"Lars von Trier. He WROTE AND DIRECTED the film" - too simple (http://www.imdb.com/list/8UHh7fphcDM/ - "by dumrat created 1 week ago | last updated - 1 week ago" and, http://www.imdb.com/board/11527186/board/nest/208268689?p=1#209033891 "by dumrat 1 day ago (Sat Jan 5 2013 00:08:46) Who the EFF is Lars? There is no 'Lars' in the film.". Don't just read, read and think please. I know who Lars is.). I'll ask you again, where is 'Lars' in the film? Nowhere? So Leave him out of it. So He wrote/directed the film, does that mean he has the last word about the film? Why would he create a thought-provoking work of art if only to explain the ultimate meaning of it and put a stop to any thinking on the viewer's side? For me, his take on the film is as valid as any of ours, not more.
According to you Melancholia is a documentary about depression, how it affects the victim and the people around her and a scientifically incorrect doomsday scenario packed in between all this "documentary". Don't you think that that is a little unlikely?
"And apparently, you know nothing about clinical depression" - Maybe, maybe not. Though I have to say I admire your powers of speculation.
Your problem is trying to find a straightforward explanation for things in this film. It may work in real life (Though I doubt it very much), but trying to do the same for a film like this is plain wrong. Surely you can't have missed noticing the fact that the Christine is more likely to have bipolar disorder rather than depression (http://casapalmera.com/bipolar-disorder-vs-depression-how-to-tell-the- difference/). Now if this is true, does this make Lars a liar, or do we just trash the film because it is not properly depicting what the writer/director himself is saying it is about? What does that leave to us, the viewer? Nothing. I'd rather form my own opinion about the film thank you. And if Lars tells me that it is about depression, I'd tell him to go eff himself. Who in the world wants to watch an incorrect boring film about depression? Not me.

Wait a minute. didn't you just post this here to tell people what the movie is about yourself?

Ofc. But it's my view. Not a supposedly ultimate view like Deannababy61 tries to convince us Lars's is. By your own argument, people can't talk about anything can they?

dumrat, do you even read what you write/type?

Dumrat - or should that be dumbrat? - you are digging a deeper hole for yourself. You made a stupid mistake. Leave it at that, do not make it worse by pretending that you did not. The film is about depression, and it was written and directed by Lars - who was not a character in the film.

Don't know if you'll ever see this post, but I just wanted to say that I agree with you. I hate when people try and say what a movie's theme is about just because they saw some interview with the director. To me, a film like this one is not supposed to be 'just one thing', but is what the eye-of-the-beholder sees in it. A work of art is just that, art; And art is what we make of it.

Is depression really an illness per se though?.

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I hate when people try and say what a movie's theme is about just because they saw some interview with the director

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This is interesting to me.

I write in my spare time and I've always felt that whatever I was working on was mine with a specific intent. And if I wrote a story about William the Conqueror but some of the people who read it insisted it was actually about World War II, then I'd be irritated, and I'd feel like they had completely misunderstood.

I understand things are open to interpretation but I also feel that there is an intent when anyone writes.

Having said this, though, I actually do like the OP's idea that the film is about thumbing your nose at a society that demands we must all be happy all the time.


Do the P-I-G-E-O-N

When Lars spoke about how he was in a state of severe depression, and how he came up with the basic premise of this movie, he was just explaining his "motives for creating it".

However all movies, especially ones of this nature, are a work of pure art. Art is NOT intended to just have any simple meaning. The same with any of the classic or modern literature. Sure Teachers and professors would like us to believe that they have them all figured out, but who knows what was really intended.

Take music for example, Led Zeppelin lets say, there music and lyrics could me analyzed any number of ways. However I once heard an interview of them later on in life, and they said that they had know idea what they were doing, it just sounded cool at the time.

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they said that they had know idea what they were doing, it just sounded cool at the time.

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That's amusing. Sometimes people do things without over-thinking them and then everyone else runs around looking for complicated hidden meanings.

I've often seen authors interviewed and they've said that they were delighted that people had so many different opinions on what their work was about. I still find this a puzzling attitude, but that may be because I'm a control freak!


Do the P-I-G-E-O-N

I don't think you have a a very nuanced understanding of depression. It is very different for different people. Lars Von Trier has stated that the level of depression he felt while working on "Antichrsit" was completely incapacitating, often requiring him to show up to work in a wheelchair is at all. The story for "Melancholia" cam out of that experience. My own experiences with depression have ranged from Justine's seeming inability to move or care for herself to rage to the more run-of-the-mill I looked sad type of thing. This film is very much about depression and, in my opinionwhich is just that: my opinionis probably the most accurate representation of both depression and the family dynamics which result from such an illness portrayed in film. Sure, we can bring in Zizekian theory, Lacanian theory, close reading, feminismwhat have you, and find all sorts of non-"straightforward" readings of the film, and those might all be true, too. But to say this film is not about depression is inaccurate.

May I just ask in what way did she seem bipolar? Having just watched the film I felt as if watching myself a few years ago on the screen when I had severe clinical depression. Depression does not mean you cannot be happy or do things impulsively or do any of the things that are symptoms of bipolar. mania is a very prominent part of depression up to the lethargic apathetic final stage. It is very unwise to read about such illnesses on a health website and assume any understanding of them. This film is the firs thing I have watched which seems to understand clinical depression in its entirety.

This is hilarious. You're trying (feebly) to cover up that you didn't know the director is a guy named Lars and that you made a dumbass comment. Then the part where you pretend you know about depression and bipolar disease because you can paste a link in a post is also hilarious. The spluttering attempt to cover up followed by your quick retreat from the thread - it's all just priceless. Thanks.

I'm not really hungry, but I would like to have reservations somewhere.

First, Lars has a big mouth, which he admits himself, so he better stick to making films.
Second, ok so it's a film about depression. But the OP didn't said that it's not, learn to read beyond the title.

If this film would have been just about depression then no one would've come to see it right? So it must be about something else as well.
How about "what gives us strength to cope with our troubles?"
In the beginning Justine was the only one who couldn't cope with her troubles, because there was no source to draw the strength from, it seemed as though everyone abandoned her by abandoning themselves, her mother, her father, the people she looked up to. In the end the polarity shifts, Justine finds the source in form of reason and even justice, whereas the rest lose their source, as all their dreams and hopes are taken away from them.

Learn to read beyond the title, haha. No, when the title says "This film is not about depression", he DID say it's not about depression.

Jesus Christ, where do you guys come up with this *beep*

With the possible exception of the OP, you're all a bunch of *beep* morons. No hope for humanity whatsoever.

Do ponies make you angry?

Oh, GREAT insight on the topic.

Indeed. And that is why so many people hate this movie. It doesn't portray what people want to see. It's too honest and confronting

I don't know if he's saying depressed people have the correct outlookjust that sometimes the depressed outlook is better able to handle a truly "debilitating situation

whereas the "normal" people will panic like Claire did.

"Sometimes it doesn't suck being me" I think is what Justine said to claire

Also, I agree that this is about depression

Lars Von Trier was suffering from depression. I believe he worked on this film when he got out of the hospital, and he was still sick, and I'm sure he probably still is.

I think this movie was an expression, or maybe even a sort of healing process for him.

I think the people who have depression, had depression or have had some close look of it will understand this movie a little better than the ones who haven't.

I was kind of scared to watch it, personally. I was afraid it will bring up the old feeling.

Actually, it was a little refreshing to see something sohonest about it.

Also, it was amazing to see someone who may have been worse off than I was It's hard to say as everyone is differentbut I'm just glad to be better now!

Just my thoughts! :)



I AM DINOSAURRAR!!!

I completely agree with you there Char_Angel.

Depressed people deal with death much differently to 'normal' people. Let's be honest, if we all found out the world was going to end, I'd say most depressed people (me included) would not be panicking as much as the 'normal' people. Normal people would be making the most of their remaining hours on this planet and would also be in a constant state of sadness and panic.

But depressed people would just be waiting in a more calmly manner I think. For a lot of them it would be something to look forward to, knowing their inner pain is coming to an end.

And yes I believe the movie reflects Lars' depression. I mean come on, it's Lars Von Trier. Until the day I see him directing the next Disney film, I highly doubt any of his films aren't depression related.

It is another thing to be extremely unhappy because you are forced to marry someone when you don't really want to and it is another thing to be clinically depressed. Justine was unable even to serve her basic needs and was almost exhibiting catatonia. Being depressed is not an attitude, it is not a lifestyle option, it is a serious illness.

This post is not about Melancholia.

Well ok, you can say it is. But I like to think that dumrat is a crazy person.

except that it is because the director said so..
its cute that you wanna argue with him though and not surprising
internet experts lol

The director is not the arbiter of truth.

This film is about depression because its protagonist is suffering from depression, because the central planet is named after a depressive condition and because the film clearly spends a great deal of time focussing on the symptoms of depression.

That the director actually SAYS it is about depression is an added bonus. But the film could not cease to be about depression just because the director said so.

Lars has also claimed that Anti-Christ is not about misogyny and many viewers would contest that claim.

I find your interpretation very interesting. Also, thanks for the link. It makes me grasp this movie better. Here's another one:

Melancholia is also about existence and the choices we make in our lives.

It's about depression!

Lars himself said this movie is about depression. what do u want more?

Re: This film is not about depression..
it's about another planet smacking into earth LOL

You lost me at Slavoj Zizek.

Dumrat lol. Nuff said.

If one devalues rationality, the world tends to fall apart.