Melancholia

Lars von Trier has made a career out of movies featuring troubled female protagonists. So it should come as no surprise that Melancholia, the latest drama from the Danish provocateur, tells an apocalyptic story of sisters with plenty of emotional baggage.

In typical von Trier fashion, it’s an offbeat and well-acted character study told in two chapters, one named after each of the sisters dealing with various emotional crises. But rather than tell two perspectives of the same story, the director essentially fuses together separate tales using the same characters.

The first half of the film focuses on the wedding reception of Justine (Kirsten Dunst), whose depression and other bizarre mental afflictions lead to volatile relationships with her family and other members of the wedding party, most notably her sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and her exasperated brother-in-law (Kiefer Sutherland) hosting the event.

The second chapter, which takes place chronologically after the first, is essentially a three-character piece about Claire’s intense paranoia regarding Melancholia, a rogue planet on a possible collision course with Earth, and how the potential for impending doom affects the family.

Dunst offers a bold performance in a role that depends more on body language and facial expression as it does on dialogue. Her illness is never fully defined, yet Dunst makes it feel believable instead of gimmicky.

Gainsbourg (Jane Eyre) brings depth to her role in both segments. The supporting cast also is strong, including smaller roles for Alexander Skarsgard, Brady Corbet, John Hurt, Charlotte Rampling and Udo Kier.

It’s an ambitious concept, and von Trier (Breaking the Waves) uses his customary hand-held cameras, jump cuts and natural light to create some powerful imagery.

In particular, the film opens with a nine-minute dialogue-free segment of beautiful yet disturbing imagery set to music from the Wagner opera Tristan und Isolde. Music from the opera is sprinkled throughout the film to ominous effect.

Melancholia features some of von Trier’s usual self-indulgence but with a refreshing lack of cynicism that hampered some of his more recent works such as Dogville and Antichrist, which contributes to making it his best film in years.

Rated R, 135 minutes.