Larz Von Tiers Melancholia - 1877 Words

Fade-in. Womans face, sullen, not frowning or smiling. Shes intensely looking into the camera there seems to be no movement, but then birds begin to fall from the sky. This is the opening image of Larz Von Triers Melancholia. This slowed down time being by portraying this woman -who we come to find out after the eight-minute non-diegetic intro- is Justine (Kristen Dunst). Cuts. Establishing shot of setting. Garden, landscape, in the background rocks overlook into a body of water edged by rocks. Painterly. Very lush greens; fourteen trees divided symmetrically mirroring each other. Sun clock in the center of the symmetrical trees cast shadow. There are two lighting points here, Both Melancholia and the Sun are shown above in the sky, the clock also has undesirable time because of reflection from both sides of the moon. This is Von Triers symbolical representation of the end of the world. Time is meaning less; life is meaningless, and nature is uncontrollable. This is Justines percepti on of the world. Shes melancholic. This is Melancholia. Unlike her sister, who sees all she has to loose in the world and how small she is in comparison to world around her. Clair is anxious. Then we see melancholia, a large planet with a swirling blue grey atmosphere that is hiding behind the sun, and comes into orbit with earth. In this essay I will argue that Larz von trier uses and pays homage to the ideals of Romantic Era philosophers and artists to influence to portray his vision of