Happiest Day
The wedding day of a person is generally associated with that person’s happiest day, the most life changing day of their lives. But ironically, in melancholia, for Justine her wedding day turns out to be the moment that jumpstarts her descent into melancholy. We see her fears and depression getting the better of her on her wedding day in the beginning of the film. Justine’s wedding day is life changing but not in a positive manner, as is expected of weddings.
Money Deal
When Justine’s depression and sadness start to show during her wedding, we see her sister’s husband, John, getting infuriated. After a few scenes, we finally see John and Justine talking. During the brief conversation that they have John stresses the amount of money he has had to spend on the wedding and tells Justine that she better be happy. The irony being that instead of the emotional comfort she needs, she is made to force happiness as money has been spent on it. Painfully capturing the phrase referencing the false notion of money buying happiness.
Not Afraid
When the movie reaches its second half titled Claire. We see Claire’s son going to Justine to show her melancholia on the laptop, the planet that in the end collides with Earth. He explains the planet had been hiding behind the sun. At this point, Claire enters the room and tells her son that he must not scare his aunt with this talk. Here Justine replies that she isn’t afraid of a planet. The irony here being that the planet is meant to symbolize her depression which is clearly overtaking her, yet she still refuses to acknowledge her fear and her condition.
Calculations
Through the second part of the film, John constantly assures Claire that the planet won’t collide with Earth. He repeats the same argument of scientists have made the calculations and that there is no need for concern. The film, however, has already shown us in the beginning that the planet collides with Earth. So, John’s comforting attempts seems hollow. Ironically for John, the planet at first seems to go away like he and his scientist fellows had predicted, but it eventually starts to come back causing John to commit suicide.
