Depression
The overarching motif in Melancholia is depression and its impacts on its victim particularly through the protagonist Justine. Inspired by his own depressive episode, Lars von Trier incorporates the symptoms experienced by depressed persons such as the distorted sense of time and space. Thus, the film focuses and explores the warping of reality through Justine’s experiences with vivid yet metaphorical imagery.
The opening scenes entail various artistic citations with one of Justine floating and being swept in a river as a tribute to the painting of Ophelia by Sir John Everett Millais. Ophelia as a famously depressed character in literature alludes to Justine’s own melancholia thus serving the film’s main theme. Her exits and escapades away from the wedding reception offer a sense of the warped feeling that depression brings upon its sufferer. Moreover, the detachment she harbors for everything around her from her new marriage to her profession as she collides with her boss at the event. The film tracks her worsening melancholy as she is placed under the care of her sister Claire and John, where she becomes even more withdrawn, disoriented, and numb to every sensation. Further influencing how she perceives menial tasks and existential queries. The sense of calmness during stressful situations as a common symptom among depressed individuals is also illustrated through Justine’s stoical attitude.
Apocalypse (Destruction)
As the film shifts in focus from Justine’s depression in the second part, the theme of the end of the world and how each person reacts to it is explored. The new discovery that a rogue planet Melancholia is headed towards earth and subsequently an apocalypse prompts opposing reactions from each character. Claire becomes dreadfully anxious about the imminent catastrophe and researches to prove the authenticity of the claim.
John, on the other hand, is skeptical akin to other scientists, as he believes the planet will pass by Earth and any other assumption is pure fiction. Despite assurances, Claire is still filled with dread and subsequently tries hard to accept the inevitability of the impending end of Earth. Similarly to her mother, Leo is terrified accentuated with the absence of his father. The idea fosters dread in him and Claire a likely human reaction to an apocalypse. However, Justine is rather passive to the idea, due to her depression she remains stoic to the situation. Experiencing an existential crisis she is accepting of the apocalypse since it will rid of the evil that is Earth. The film demonstrates the human psyche in the face of an imminent doomsday.
Dysfunction of Family
The dysfunction in familial relationships as a motif in the film is explored through Justine’s parents, in-laws and her new husband. In the wedding reception, the husband, Michael, seems oblivious of Justine’s mental state, even sometimes the dynamic between them feels lacking. As a portrait of a failed marriage, she is disillusioned in the very wedding night even engaging in an infidelity and consequently seeks an annulment. John, the brother-in-law, begrudges having to host the wedding and collides with the family members on occasion. Moreover, Justine’s mother Gaby is cynical and experiences depressive episodes during the attendance at the reception which causes rifts with the in-laws. The film explores its main motif around the dysfunctional elements of family.
