Melancholia

A dance of death begins with surreal images of decay and the wistful strains of *Tristan und Isolde*. An overture that prepares us, the audience, for what awaits us all in the end: the collision between Earth and an alien planet is imminent. Two sisters, the depressive Justine and the level-headed Claire, form the heart of the film. The first half centres on Justine’s wedding reception, where everything slowly but surely spirals out of control; the second half, in which the inevitable becomes a certainty, reverses the psychological dynamic between the two women. A fragile study of the human psyche cloaked in apocalyptic visions of the end times, in which personal despair and cosmic finitude join hands in dark beauty.
(Florian Widegger)