15 Feel-Bad Movies That Make You Feel Like Sh*t
3. Melancholia
Lars von Trier’s films don’t normally make for easy viewing -
unless you consider genital mutilation (Antichrist), rape (Breaking the Waves
and Dogville) or adults pretending to have learning disabilities in an attempt
to upset the bourgeoisie (The Idiots) easy viewing, that is.
Melancholia, while not courting quite as controversial subject matter as some of his previous films, isn’t exactly a walk in the park either. Hint: the clue is in the title.
Inspired by von Trier’s own battles with depression and the realisation that those suffering from depression tend to act more calmly in a crisis, Melancholia is a portrait of a dysfunctional family in the shadow of an impending apocalypse.
But whereas other films might exploit the impending end of the world as excuse for lauding heroism or humanity or something else equally schmaltzy, Melancholia instead uses it as a frame for exploring nihilism and depression in focusing on its terminally depressed protagonist Justine (Kirsten Dunst in possibly her most acclaimed role to date) and her apathy towards the apocalypse.
Like many von Trier films, it’s a tad arty and pretentious but at its core is a painfully real depiction of depression.