Leave it Lars von Trier to start a film with the
apocalypse. As a mysterious planet roughly the size of Jupiter hurtles towards
Earth in the opening montage of Melancholia,
scenes on the ground involving Justine and Claire are almost frozen in time
using super slow motion photography to create an otherworldly effect as if
we’re watching paintings in motion. Then we see our beautiful blue planet
swallowed up by the massive celestial object looming over it. The world ceases
to exist in that moment.
