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<\/a><\/p>\n\nIt’s hard to “get into stuff” on Twitter, so I’m opening up a thread to discuss Lars von Trier’s Melancholia<\/i>. I reviewed it when it first came out in 2011<\/a>, and I also wrote the capsule review of it in The Dissolve’s 50 Best Films of the Decade<\/a> series in 2015 – when I had had a bit more time to percolate with it. <\/p>\n Worth noting: as I said on Twitter, I reviewed the film in 2011. I was profoundly moved by it. “Moved” like earthquake<\/i> moved. Relevant context, in terms of my review, which is very strange to read now: I had had numerous breakdowns throughout my life, starting with a massive one when I was 12. When I wrote the review I was coming out of a BEAR of a one in 2009, and little did I know I was about to be hit again at the end of 2012 – and that would be the one that led to hospitalization and diagnosis, finally. <\/p>\n While I stand by my initial review of Melancholia<\/i>, I will say that There’s a reason the film moved me like an earthquake when I first saw it. There was a huge planet approaching ME, and I wasn’t even aware of it. But somewhere I knew. Even in 2011, I saw Melancholia<\/i> as almost documentary-like in its evocation of the malady, and what it feels like. I also understood totally why the depressive Justine would be galvanized and calm in the face of disaster, while the more “well-adjusted” sister disintegrated. Depression makes you tough as nails. And pessimism … well, I am very pessimistic, but I usually use the word “realistic.” This film really struck a chord on that level in its validation of a pessimistic outlook – this is something almost NEVER shown in American film, since we love “optimism” and “feel-good” endings to an almost pathological degree.<\/p>\n Melancholia<\/i> has just grown in power in subsequent viewings. <\/p>\n So here’s an open thread for discussion of this magnificent film. <\/p>\n \n It’s hard to “get into stuff” on Twitter, so I’m opening up a thread to discuss Lars von Trier’s Melancholia. I reviewed it when it first came out in 2011, and I also wrote the capsule review of it in … Continue reading
\n1. it was the film that turned me around on Lars von Trier, although I still can’t stand Breaking the Waves<\/i>. I look forward to his films like Breaking News now, an amazing transformation, especially considering the bitching I do about my issues with him at the start of the review.
\nAnd 2. I would write that review very differently now, since it was written pre-diagnosis. I wasn’t completely unaware that something was wrong with me, but I lived my life like Kirsten Dunst in the stunning prologue, running in agonizing slo-mo through the grass, with thick grey yarn twined around her legs and body, slowing her down. That was me. I was IN it when I saw it.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/m5-1.jpg\")
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