Lars von Trier’s Melancholia will begin with the end

It’s common practice for disaster films to build up to all the destruction, but Lars von Trier will be taking a different approach with Melancholia. Trier revealed in his new book, Geniet (via Politiken) that we won’t have to wait and see all the destruction, and the film will be opening with the devastation of Earth. “In ‘Melancholia’ I start with the end. Because what is interesting is not what happens but how it happens! So we begin by seeing the world being crushed, then we can tell the story afterwards,” he said.

With big-budget disaster films like Roland Emmerich’s 2012 or Michael Bay’s Armageddon, we had to sit and guess how it all going to happen. Trier wants to avoid that, and shows up front how the world ends. “In this way you don’t have to sit and form theories about what will happen, but can delve down into some other levels and become interested in the pictures and the universe – that’s what I imagine”, he said. So what event will we see. Well, Trier remained tight-lipped, but revealed that it’ll involve two sisters (Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg) and a planet headed toward Earth.

The film will focus on the two siblings, who react differently towards the impending disaster. Each of the two will have different reactions based on their personality. “And there are beautiful pictures as she is just standing there looking at the planet that comes closer and closer and accepts it. The other woman, on the other hand, becomes increasingly panicky”, he said. Trier has also taken some aspects of his own experience dealing with anxiety from his childhood and fears of nuclear war, and put that into the characters. So, it does sound like it won’t be another special effects driven disaster movies as we’ve seen many times in recent years. Filming is already underway and is looking for a release sometime next year.

Matt Keith

I’m just your everday movie nerd.

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