2. Melancholia
Many films claim to be about the end of the world but few of them have ever taken it quite as far as Lars Von Trier does in his unsettling 2011 film, Melancholia. Justine, played by Kirsten Dunst, becomes severely depressed after separating from her husband almost immediately after their wedding. At the same time, a planet previously hidden by the sun is realized to be on a collision course with earth, sending almost everyone into hysteria. Due to her depression, Justine remains surprisingly calm despite the news, although her brother in law commits suicide and her sister has a near mental breakdown. The final shot of the movie shows Justine, her sister, and her nephew, sit on a hill as the two planets collide, with the annihilation of all life on earth occurring almost immediately. This one's actually pretty hard to find any kind of optimism in because Melancholia is so bleak its almost comical. Lars Von Trier thought of the movie as he was suffering from a case of severe depression and it definitely shows in the way it ends. At some level though, while Melancholia is an uncomfortable reminder of our own mortality, it asks us to be brave and honest about facing the end that is actually a bit inspirational. Gorgeous and evocative, but perhaps only uplifting for for clinical depressives, Melancholia is still a film that works as a sort of cathartic look at the hopelessness of life.