20 Movies That Could've Been Horror Movies
9. Melancholia
Lars von Trier's 2011 sci-fi drama Melancholia is part of the filmmaker's Depression Trilogy - alongside Antichrist and Nymphomaniac, a triptych of films centered around depressed characters, mirroring the filmmaker's own mental health struggles.
And of the three films, it's Melancholia which most persuasively depicts depression as a force which basically sucks the joy out of someone's life, and in the case of protagonist Justine (Kirsten Dunst), it also culminates on her wedding day.
But beyond Justine's spiritual numbness, Lars von Trier's externalises her apocalyptic depression in the tangible sense, given that a rogue planet called Melancholia is literally revealed to be on a possible collision course with Earth.
Von Trier's depiction of depression as an unstoppable, world-ending entity makes for a tough sit, but the film is also so painfully raw, and so exquisitely acted by Dunst - who should've been Oscar-nominated for her work - that it's hard to look away from.