Melancholia

Aaah - enfin - an interesting movie, just like I love them. Melancholia. The vibe is a little bit like Another Earth, where science fiction collides with the everyday world. What drew me to Melancholia was the music. I was upstairs at the computer or painting, and I heard Wagner's prelude to Tristan und Isolde. I thought it strange that BB would be listening to that piece, so I had to go downstairs to investigate.

I found him watching this movie I had vaguely heard about. But it looked intriguing, so he rewound it for me and we watched it from the start.

The opening scenes are slow, strange, disturbing. Very strong imagery. Then in the next scene, there is a normal, happy, wedding party, with a lovely bride Justine (Kirsten Dunst), a handsome husband (Alexander Skarsgård - Eric from True Blood, and also the good guy in Generation Kill!), a castle, the bride's sister, Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg), and husband (Kiefer Sutherland) and their son, her parents (Charlotte Rampling and John Hurt), and various guests. But it soon transpires the bride suffers from deep depression, and events take a strange turn. Also we find out that a planet has appeared in the sky - some people say that it will collide with the earth, others that it won't. But we all know how it's going to end.

As all the other characters disappear, it's left to the two sisters, Justine and Claire, to stand up till the end of the world, to give each other support and love, and to look after Claire's son, Leo. Claire, who has so much to lose - her son's life and future, finds it hard to cope. Whereas Justine is serene and strong.

Beautiful. And the music is so perfect.