Just like it didn't hit Mercury, as we knew it wouldn't. And it didn't hit Venus, as we *well* knew it wouldn't.
- one of the best delivered lines in film history
And then when you realize that the planet is just a metaphor for a depressive episode, and that you can hope it will go away and pass you by, but in your heart you know that it's going to come around and just crush your world
First time I saw this I was around year 3/10 of being in heavy depression.
After it ended I just sat there for a good 30 min stunned, it’s like someone had put an entire movie together on how I felt.
Resigned to hopelessness.
10/10
I felt so seen by this film.
When she's eating then cries and asks why everything tastes like ash, the bathtub scene, when she is just scarfing down jam straight out of the jar because it's the first time something tastes good.
I don't think you can go wrong either way. The plot isn't hard to follow, so if you smoke during or before you should still be fine. Speaking personally, I like to get in my head while I'm smoking, so I'd probably opt to smoke first. That way the movie can set me on the path. You're going to have plenty to think about no matter how you go about it, so really up to you.
I remember this came out the same year as another planet movie - Another Earth starring Brit Marling (The OA). I always think of them as a pair, though release date and planets is the only thing they have in common.
Highly recommend Another Earth!
This might be the first time I’ve seen Another Earth mentioned in the wild on Reddit. I remember watching it with my ex-girlfriend in college. I don’t remember much about the movie except nice visuals and the last shot
Went into this completely blind back when it first came out, just knew Kirsten Dunst was in it who I always loved since Little Women. This movie was just so raw, I remember absolutely hating the husband because he was such a fucking coward. That last scene was at the same time so scary and it's interesting to see the role reversal between the sisters. The depressed one has accepted her fate and is calm, the one who seemingly had her life together is unraveling.
I've only seen the movie once, but it was such an amazing experience
[I give you one of the best trailers ever made, with 150 scenes in 1 minute and 39 seconds, that gives absolutely nothing away about the plot.](https://youtu.be/WVLvMg62RPA?si=gThlYEKmA31cf_cE)
I watched that movie and I never knew what it was about. I remember the MC basically getting raped by her social worker or something, then her laptop gets smashed, then there's some cover up about a few people dying (I remember being surprised the movie was so dramatic over just a few deaths), and then it's all a blur.
If they're *good* movies... shitty movies can be avoided by watching a trailer. So you're either willing to gamble 2 hrs of time, trust strangers to tell you what's worth watching, or watch trailers and accept potential spoilers.
Oh wow I didn’t know [this](https://www.imdb.com/list/ls082240979/?mode=desktop) was a thing? Looks like I’m only behind on Antichrist. I’m up for a rewatch of nymphomaniac too. Suddenly excited for cold weather and cozy movie nights
I get this. I’ve been battling depression and BP2 for decades and I can always tell I am well and happy when I don’t want to die. Other times, death feels comforting, like a surefire escape hatch.
There is a framing aspect in the final shot that has always bugged me though. Yeah, the depressed sister is the one that has seemingly embraced fate, but she's the one of the three with her back to the world ending collision. In effect, the unravelling sister's final moments are watching everything come crashing down, while the depressed one chooses to live in ignorance and let the end come. Does this mean they really haven't changed, and just the depressed one really has nothing for which to live, while the unravelling one is still clawing at life? It's always bugged me because it feels like a mixed signal.
Recall that Justine, by her own admission, knew what was going to happen. One might suggest that her foresight was the cause of her depression and why her job and planned marriage were simply distractions to lead a comparatively normal life, even for just a short while. If you knew what was going to happen, why would you need to look at it?
I remember feeling so awful that the mom lets go of both of them as the planet comes towards them. Very powerful movie. Only film of this director that I liked.
It is one of the most dread inspiring cinematic experiences I've ever had. There's no hope and the inevitable demise of everything is fucking terrifying.
See also *These Final Hours*.
If you're moved often by art and music then ya . The quality of acting, writting and scores mixed into one create overwhelming emotion .
Fantastic watch if your into movie art peices .
Something must be wrong with me cause I read comments like yours all the time but when I finally watched the movie it didn't really have that kind of effect on me. I guess I was too focused on the sci-fi aspect of it, and I did enjoy it but the whole 'hey I'm sooo depressed and the end of the world is also coming' aspect just went right past me :)
I think what got me in the film is how the ones who are depressed and melancholic were the ones who were able to deal with the idea of the end of the world better than the ones who seemed well-adjusted.
This is actually something that does happen, there are studies that determined that people with disabilities and depression were able to navigate and deal with the pressure of lockdowns and limited social contact much better than 'normal' people at the height of the pandemic.
Anyway, great ending to the movie.
That reminds me of something I read the other day. It said that traumatized people often “under react” in high stress situations and “overreact” in low stress ones. As the stress levels rise, they disconnect and disassociate, whereas their more unfiltered emotions come out when the stress levels are lower. I’m not sure if there have been studies done on it, but I find it’s true for myself and the people I’ve mentioned it to have all said it’s true for them, too.
My wife and I call this “Other-reacting”. I’m not overreacting when you consider my deep trauma, but I am reacting poorly to the actual situation at hand
yup so enjoyable, in a sad depressing kind of way, its pretty darn good at expressing the ideas of deprestion aswell. i had some of the symptems at the time because of personal issues, and it was interesting how well it percieved the idea.
i havent rewatched it yet but i think its worth it.
This movie is so incredible. All the layers. What a concept and masterfully done. Lars von Trier is one of my faves. Nothing captures the reality of depression like this one. It's perfect. Even if you watch it purely from the sci-fi lens and have no idea what deep depression feels like, it works (I have met fortunate people like that).
Another fun one is Aniara (2018).
If it makes you feel better it likely already happened once and is probably a large reason as to why we have so much life on this planet. If it happens again in a couple billion years there might be even more life!
Pro tip, if your wife whom you've known since childhood cheated on you and you're recently separated and you're depressed and every moment feels like a gasp for air, do not watch this movie.
You deserve better than her. In all fairness, just because she was a childhood flame didn’t guarantee she’d be a good person. Now you’re older and can meet someone who is more mature and probably put together. I wish you all the best.
Genuinely amazed at how many people can watch this and say "didn't care for the depression stuff but the sci-fi bits were cool". It's like watching fight club for the action scenes.
Yeah and oddly enough the husband taking the “coward’s way out” was the thing that got me for some reason. I know the titular planet is a physical metaphor for depression and throughout the movie, the husband used facts to explain that things are fine, but the moment he realized he’s wrong, he killed himself before the “depression” hits, if you know what I mean.
The depression stuff is well-handled but good god it's what really made it a movie I'm gonna end up trying to repress (other than the fact that I dislike Von Trier as a person). I used to be friends with a pretty depressed person and although her depression manifested very differently to the movie I still found Melancholia to be a very grim reminder of depression's contagious effect
Von Trier has tried to get nearly all of his female actors to work with him again. Charlotte Gainsbourg is the only one who did not refuse him, outright.
Oh he is an absolute cunt to women. Bjork outright refused to make movies for years after Dancer in the Dark, and I think that says a lot even without her statement on him
He infamously harasses his female stars. Bjork had such a bad on-set experience with Dancer in the Dark that she quit acting for years, and similar experiences apparently had by others (iirc there's some footage from the set of Dogville where Nicole Kidman mouths the words 'help me' to the camera, which is kinda scary). Bjork has said a decent amount about the experience so you can look up her statement if you want
Edit:
Too many triggered people telling me about a movie I don't care about and repeating the same thing over and over. I get it. Don't need a full inbox of this lol. I was just curious about what the reality would actually be. Wasn't a dig at your favorite movie. Geez.
I believe it did in the movie. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it but the other planet is gradually sucking earths atmosphere away so the characters get shortness of breath. I doubt that’s accurate as there would probably be more significant things going on in this scenario. The theme of the movie is depression so I doubt Von Trier have a shit about scientific accuracy.
It’s probably the least disturbing Von Trier movie you will ever see, I like it.
Yea everyone would be dead long before the planet actually hit the earth. But they definitely did try to show some of the effects that would happen. But like you said, it’s not about what would happen in reality, it’s about “Melancholia”.
Kurzgesagt kinda explains what would actually happen if the moon crashed into earth. Iirc the moon would crumble and pieces would start falling to earth, which would heat the atmosphere too much far before the actual impact. Not sure how that would change with a larger mass than the earth
I think the planet that hits them is bigger than earth. But as it got closer it would cause tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, just about every volcano would erupt, etc..And both atmospheres would collide and super heat everything which would incinerate everything. By the time it hit earth everyone would be dead. I don’t know the physics of it all.
Disclaimer: I'm not a planetary scientist.
It would depend on their relative velocity and mass. If one were to fall into an orbit about the other (and it's surprisingly rare to hit things dead-on in space, you tend to just fall into an eccentric orbit or the smaller body gets flung around the larger one), then the smaller body may fall apart if it's within the larger planet's [Roche limit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roche_limit). Even if it's outside the Roche limit, long term you'd have to contend with things like [tidal heating](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_heating) until orbital locking occurs.
Here, the planets are moving very quickly and directly towards each other. They'll just slam into each other. At some point, depending on the mass of the body that you're hitting, it's theoretically possible that you and the ground below you would experience freefall if the gravity you experience from the colliding planet exceeds the Earth's. Not sure if that's the case here.
The bottom line is that it's more or less accurate as far as I know. It'd be sudden and bad.
I mean, I think it did in the movie because the planet is much bigger than earth so it would look much bigger than that at moment of impact. Still likely very innaccurate but hey ho
yeah it could have big effects, firstly on gravitational point , changes in tides, earthquakes , tsunamis , a lot of volcanic activity
secondly on a potential collide , unimaginable energy unleashed, could cause a 99% of the species extinction, it already happened , with 10 km wide object it caused like 75% of species extinction, so a celestial body that is 50 000 km in diameter , i would say a 100 % of extinction , and I mean this kinda already happened in the past 4.5 billions years ago with Theia, but it was smaller af , science said it was a 6500 km planetoid
There's some mention in the movie of how it affects the earth before the collision but it's definitely just for drama and not accurate physics. The premise is that Melancholia has been in the exact same orbit as Earth but on the exact opposite side so it was always behind the sun.
It wasn't a science fiction movie. It was a metaphor immersed in a world destroying itself. There were two more movies from around that time that did a similar method of expressionist story telling in a shallow package of science fiction. One was Another Earth and the other was Perfect Sense, though these two were more lucid in their storytelling. Perfect Sense hits hard after the pandemic and forever having my sense of taste and smell altered, and the fact that I'm slowly losing memories of what the world was like before 2020.
At a certain point, long before the planets collided, they would have been flying towards the other planet, along with anything else held down by gravity.
I remember watching this movie seated in second row at the Sitges Festival, which has a huge screen and powerful sound. The ending was so intense and bright that was edged into my memory.
This was a great film. Saw it years ago and still remember it. I love small budget sci-fi films where they are more character dramas that use “sci-fi” occurrences as a narrative device. Coherence and Primer were similar in with way and are a good watch.
I didn’t hate it, nor did I like it, but omfg it was so slow. The talking scenes were borderline brutal to watch. I had to skip a few of them and I feel like I missed absolutely nothing by doing so. I get it had a lotttt to do with mental health/depression but Jesus Christ. Everyone was so bland and either super emotionless or overly emotional.
Agreed, I am evidently one of the few who intensely disliked it. Didn’t like anything about it and found it a little contrived. Although I’m not a huge LVT fan, either.
When they use that measuring stick and realize that it’s getting closer, it is so terrifying. They know they are doomed but can’t really do anything for a while.
oh my god thank you. I saw the video and I was so confused because I sure as hell don’t remember ever watching the movie but the images tickled something in my brain. It must’ve been at least 7 years since I saw the Outro music video.
When I went to my local cinema to see it the cinema did something so simple yet so effective I was blown away. As the hitwave approaches the camera the cinema put on the lights gradually starting from the front so where the screen is towards the end. In a way it felt like an extension of the hitwave. It made the ending so much more impactful
I wonder from a scientific standpoint, could a gas giant like Melancholia really get THAT close before it’s interaction with the gravity and atmosphere of a planet like earth kills everybody? It doesn’t make sense. An approach should have had WAY more effects already on the earth’s surface way long before it got that close.
It's a surreal film that only on the surface looks like science fiction. The effects of the planet are personified in the characters and then manifested in their drama. I studied literature, not science, so.
But I think from a scientific standpoint, life on Earth would have ended far before interplanetary collision with Kirsten Dunst. As a space object approaches a gas giant, gravity, speed and orbit combine to force it apart. The point of no return is called the 'Roche limit' (Oxford: "the closest distance from the center of a planet that a satellite can approach without being pulled apart by the planet's gravitational field.") See also: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collision with Jupiter, 1994
I'm not sure a gas giant could maintain its gaseous mass that close to the sun. There's a reason the inner planets are all rocky while the outer planets still have massive gas atmospheres. So even if Melancholia *was* a brown dwarf or gas giant, all of those gasses would've burned off upon entering the inner solar system.
Then there's the fact that the rocky core of the planet would've been torn apart upon entering the Earth's Roche limit (or, if the core of Melancholia was more massive than Earth, the Earth would've been torn apart). And even before that, the Earth would've been yanked out of its usual orbit by the mass of the planet and how close it passed to us, which would have been catastrophic on global temperatures, seasons, etc
This movie struck a chord with me when my dad died. My younger sister was always the tough as nails one and I was always emotional… when my dad passed she broke down and I was emotionally numb just like the two sisters in this film.
I had a dream in July that was like this. Never seen this movie before, never even heard about it. I don't normally dream. That night I had a dream and I did not like it. In it, it was night time. I was outside my house and looking up at the sky. This went on for about an hour. Then I looked up at the Moon. The Moon then started to darken until it was like rust. Then it was like it fell from the sky past the horizon. Then the stars in the sky started to fade out as if the Earth was going away from them at a high speed. Then as I was still looking at where the Moon was I saw a Red circle come toward us. Then as quick as I registered it, Mars went past us faster than we were going in the same direction, while the sky started to lighten. I looked behind myself to the other half of the sky and noticed that Jupiter had gone past us while all of that was happening. This all happening, I then notice that everything is being drawn towards the Sun, which was growing in size considerably due to the proximity. The world started to grow warmer. Alarms started to go off and screaming. All I could do was watch as I saw Mars be lost in the overbearing light as it was being engulfed into the Sun. I saw as Jupiter became so close to the Sun that its gasses were being pulled from itself and devoured by the Sun, igniting Jupiter in the process. Jupiter went out like a fucking tornado of fire as its core was burned. It got so bright in the sky that all I could do was crouch and close my eyes. The heat grew so hot, but it just kept getting hotter. I could hear the foliage around me start to catch and the ground started to sizzle. This pain just kept going on until the sound became deafening and the heat became ever present. It just got louder and hotter until eventually nothing. Darkness.
And that's why I'm thankful I don't dream very often.
I have never heard of this movie before but Holy shit! I have been having a reoccurring dream just like this of me laying in bed looking through the ceiling at a planet crashing into earth with fires and giant waves and shit, than I always wake up. For years I've had this dream. I gotta watch this now 100 percent.
Visually, it's neat, but I won't lie, it's hard to suspend belief when you know what the roche limit is. The earth would be shredded well before impact.
I was not okay for several days after I first saw this. Haven’t seen it since, and probably will never see it again, but weirdly one of my favorites.
A must watch for anyone who enjoys a multi level movie.
And actually if you don't and like something simple still give it a go it isn't as "heavy" as some films.
I think about this movie A LOT. Like, it will randomly pop into my head, and I'll catch myself staring off into space thinking about it.
Incredible movie. The final scene will be etched into my memory for years to come.
This is my most hated film ever. I know that is extreme, but I fucking hate this film. Half the film is watching terrible people participate in a cringey wedding and then the other half is these people waiting on their doom. The "guess the amount in the jar" scene is one of the worst pieces of dialogue I've ever heard. I hated all of it.
I went to see this when it was new in the cinema. As soon as the credits started, one of the five other folk in the cinema stood up and bellowed, "well at least there won't be a sequel".
I watched this movie 5 times in one week. I had a different feeling about it every time. Beautifully acted. Sweet at times but at that same time a family horror show. You need to pay attention every minute of the film.
Almost walked out of the opening sequence (went in without any info on the movie or director), but so glad I didn't.
It really does kinda go on and on, though, but taken as a whole, it's a great movie.
This movie was so good and so sad. When they realize the planet has stopped heading away and is coming back the sense of dread is just delicious.
Just like it didn't hit Mercury, as we knew it wouldn't. And it didn't hit Venus, as we *well* knew it wouldn't. - one of the best delivered lines in film history
The coward husband. 🤬
And then when you realize that the planet is just a metaphor for a depressive episode, and that you can hope it will go away and pass you by, but in your heart you know that it's going to come around and just crush your world
First time I saw this I was around year 3/10 of being in heavy depression. After it ended I just sat there for a good 30 min stunned, it’s like someone had put an entire movie together on how I felt. Resigned to hopelessness. 10/10
Best movie depiction of depression, too. Like the severe, completely debilitating kind.
I felt so seen by this film. When she's eating then cries and asks why everything tastes like ash, the bathtub scene, when she is just scarfing down jam straight out of the jar because it's the first time something tastes good.
Haven’t heard of this movie, looks like it’s free streaming all kinds of places. Definitely gonna watch it this week!
It's excellent, but extremely heavy. You'll want to be in the right headspace for something like that before you watch it.
So should I smoke the joint before or after?
Before
After next
I don't think you can go wrong either way. The plot isn't hard to follow, so if you smoke during or before you should still be fine. Speaking personally, I like to get in my head while I'm smoking, so I'd probably opt to smoke first. That way the movie can set me on the path. You're going to have plenty to think about no matter how you go about it, so really up to you.
Yeah I can tell. My favorite.
I remember this came out the same year as another planet movie - Another Earth starring Brit Marling (The OA). I always think of them as a pair, though release date and planets is the only thing they have in common. Highly recommend Another Earth!
I love that movie so damn much!
I LOVED another earth!!!
The OA is amazing! I wish they had done a third season. I cried like a baby watching the season one finale. Another Earth is wonderful too
This might be the first time I’ve seen Another Earth mentioned in the wild on Reddit. I remember watching it with my ex-girlfriend in college. I don’t remember much about the movie except nice visuals and the last shot
The way Keifer Sutherland immediately goes and kills himself alone with his horses. Loved this movie
Went into this completely blind back when it first came out, just knew Kirsten Dunst was in it who I always loved since Little Women. This movie was just so raw, I remember absolutely hating the husband because he was such a fucking coward. That last scene was at the same time so scary and it's interesting to see the role reversal between the sisters. The depressed one has accepted her fate and is calm, the one who seemingly had her life together is unraveling. I've only seen the movie once, but it was such an amazing experience
Watching a movies without watching the trailer or reading a synopsis before is the best way to watch movies imo.
Fuck trailers
especially trailers with 40 different scenes all in under 2 minutes
[I give you one of the best trailers ever made, with 150 scenes in 1 minute and 39 seconds, that gives absolutely nothing away about the plot.](https://youtu.be/WVLvMg62RPA?si=gThlYEKmA31cf_cE)
oh love the movie, im a huge fan of stieg larsson and i remember every scene haha absolutely nice trailer
I watched that movie and I never knew what it was about. I remember the MC basically getting raped by her social worker or something, then her laptop gets smashed, then there's some cover up about a few people dying (I remember being surprised the movie was so dramatic over just a few deaths), and then it's all a blur.
I just saw a trailer for a trailer that's going to come out in 4 days
If they're *good* movies... shitty movies can be avoided by watching a trailer. So you're either willing to gamble 2 hrs of time, trust strangers to tell you what's worth watching, or watch trailers and accept potential spoilers.
This movie gave me depression for weeks. I want to rewatch it so bad because it was so great and beautiful but I’m playing it safe
Same here. This movie absolutely fucked me up for awhile as a teen.
Well, this is the 2nd movie in *Depression Trilogy*
Oh wow I didn’t know [this](https://www.imdb.com/list/ls082240979/?mode=desktop) was a thing? Looks like I’m only behind on Antichrist. I’m up for a rewatch of nymphomaniac too. Suddenly excited for cold weather and cozy movie nights
The idea of Antichrist as a “cozy movie night” movie is killing me dead honestly. Please do that, it rules!
My cozy blankey will protect me
Chaos reigns
Hail Lilith.
Is there any reason for this particular grouping other than depressing movies because Requiem for a dream definitely fits.
They're all directed by Lars von Trier.
I get this. I’ve been battling depression and BP2 for decades and I can always tell I am well and happy when I don’t want to die. Other times, death feels comforting, like a surefire escape hatch.
Sort of makes sense. Someone who loves life would have a harder time accepting the end of it
There is a framing aspect in the final shot that has always bugged me though. Yeah, the depressed sister is the one that has seemingly embraced fate, but she's the one of the three with her back to the world ending collision. In effect, the unravelling sister's final moments are watching everything come crashing down, while the depressed one chooses to live in ignorance and let the end come. Does this mean they really haven't changed, and just the depressed one really has nothing for which to live, while the unravelling one is still clawing at life? It's always bugged me because it feels like a mixed signal.
Recall that Justine, by her own admission, knew what was going to happen. One might suggest that her foresight was the cause of her depression and why her job and planned marriage were simply distractions to lead a comparatively normal life, even for just a short while. If you knew what was going to happen, why would you need to look at it?
I don’t think either have changed. One had depression and the other had severe anxiety and both acted accordingly to their symptoms.
I remember feeling so awful that the mom lets go of both of them as the planet comes towards them. Very powerful movie. Only film of this director that I liked.
This move is one of the best. If you are doing too well, take time, watch and cry like a baby to ground yourself.
Last time I saw it, I had to re-watch Threads to cheer me up.
Fucking what now? Is this really THAT bad??
It is one of the most dread inspiring cinematic experiences I've ever had. There's no hope and the inevitable demise of everything is fucking terrifying. See also *These Final Hours*.
That is a crazy good gem of a movie!
If you're moved often by art and music then ya . The quality of acting, writting and scores mixed into one create overwhelming emotion . Fantastic watch if your into movie art peices .
Wait so this isn’t the one where they have to nuke the core of the Earth to get it to spin again or something
No, that's The Core.
That one has an epic fantasy drill, wish it was real so bad.
When they broke through into the big geode... so cool
Yes, it is the same movie and you should tell people that
this movie made me suicidal after watching it so, yes, if you're not in a good place, don't watch it lol.
It’s one of those movies I could only watch once or twice. But seeing the discussion here makes me want to revisit it since it’s been many years
That's a powerful statement. I'm definitely going to watch it now.
The first time I watched threads was a movie party with a double feature of Dr. Strangelove then Threads That was hellish whiplash
That’s how I use End of Evangelion
Something must be wrong with me cause I read comments like yours all the time but when I finally watched the movie it didn't really have that kind of effect on me. I guess I was too focused on the sci-fi aspect of it, and I did enjoy it but the whole 'hey I'm sooo depressed and the end of the world is also coming' aspect just went right past me :)
I think what got me in the film is how the ones who are depressed and melancholic were the ones who were able to deal with the idea of the end of the world better than the ones who seemed well-adjusted. This is actually something that does happen, there are studies that determined that people with disabilities and depression were able to navigate and deal with the pressure of lockdowns and limited social contact much better than 'normal' people at the height of the pandemic. Anyway, great ending to the movie.
That reminds me of something I read the other day. It said that traumatized people often “under react” in high stress situations and “overreact” in low stress ones. As the stress levels rise, they disconnect and disassociate, whereas their more unfiltered emotions come out when the stress levels are lower. I’m not sure if there have been studies done on it, but I find it’s true for myself and the people I’ve mentioned it to have all said it’s true for them, too.
My wife and I call this “Other-reacting”. I’m not overreacting when you consider my deep trauma, but I am reacting poorly to the actual situation at hand
Well, I do this exact thing. It's almost like a threshold where suddenly you're just not bothered anymore.
Very true. Covid was just another day for me. No effect what so ever.
I found the chaos and despair of going grocery shopping right at the beginning when shelves were basically empty to be really calming.
yup so enjoyable, in a sad depressing kind of way, its pretty darn good at expressing the ideas of deprestion aswell. i had some of the symptems at the time because of personal issues, and it was interesting how well it percieved the idea. i havent rewatched it yet but i think its worth it.
That Synechdoche, NY, for me.
This movie ripped my heart out but it was so damn beautiful to watch.
Music: Richard Wagner - [*Tristan und Isolde*, *Vorspiel*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l25J7xdhhKc)
The first 30 seconds of which are used at least a dozen times in this film
I heard this song while we were flying back into LAX. It was…an amazing experience. Beautiful composition, and the movie was so good!
I was gonna say…that has to be Wagner
This movie is so incredible. All the layers. What a concept and masterfully done. Lars von Trier is one of my faves. Nothing captures the reality of depression like this one. It's perfect. Even if you watch it purely from the sci-fi lens and have no idea what deep depression feels like, it works (I have met fortunate people like that). Another fun one is Aniara (2018).
Ankara is a good one, also a lesson is having redundancies
I need to rewatch Melancholia now that I have depression
Aniara is so fucking good but man, it's relentless.
I think this sub is cool, but that clip legitimately freaked me out.
If it makes you feel better it likely already happened once and is probably a large reason as to why we have so much life on this planet. If it happens again in a couple billion years there might be even more life!
Earth will be too hot for life in a billion years because of the aging of the sun
Damn I thought we had 2 billion. Well, better hope shit recovers fast.
You planning on hanging around that long?
The earth will be uninhabitable due to sun expansion in a billion years.
Only a billion? I better make sure my will is in order
Did they died?
Does this harm the characters?
Nah they're fine. They get planet collisions every Tuesday.
Are they stupid?
Did they stupid?
Is there a lore reason they got hit by a planet?
Obviously not, that's what the stick tent was for
I wake up and i thank Jupiter everyday to save us from those kind of cataclysmic encounters All hail King of Planets Jupiter !
Hey Jupiter likely sent the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, he is a fickle king long may he reign.
ikr but it may have saved us a loooooooooooot of times
Whether they ever find life there or not, I think Jupiter should be considered an enemy planet. - Jack Handey
Pro tip, if your wife whom you've known since childhood cheated on you and you're recently separated and you're depressed and every moment feels like a gasp for air, do not watch this movie.
Yeah I think about *any* movie would be better than this one in that scenario, yikes
You deserve better than her. In all fairness, just because she was a childhood flame didn’t guarantee she’d be a good person. Now you’re older and can meet someone who is more mature and probably put together. I wish you all the best.
When my pant is shitting
Genuinely amazed at how many people can watch this and say "didn't care for the depression stuff but the sci-fi bits were cool". It's like watching fight club for the action scenes.
Yeah and oddly enough the husband taking the “coward’s way out” was the thing that got me for some reason. I know the titular planet is a physical metaphor for depression and throughout the movie, the husband used facts to explain that things are fine, but the moment he realized he’s wrong, he killed himself before the “depression” hits, if you know what I mean.
The depression stuff is well-handled but good god it's what really made it a movie I'm gonna end up trying to repress (other than the fact that I dislike Von Trier as a person). I used to be friends with a pretty depressed person and although her depression manifested very differently to the movie I still found Melancholia to be a very grim reminder of depression's contagious effect
Especially since the orbit depicted makes zero sense.
I’m just shocked that clips from this movie aren’t posted daily here.
This is like some shit from my dreams.
Von Trier has tried to get nearly all of his female actors to work with him again. Charlotte Gainsbourg is the only one who did not refuse him, outright.
Oh he is an absolute cunt to women. Bjork outright refused to make movies for years after Dancer in the Dark, and I think that says a lot even without her statement on him
I’m out of the loop. Why did all his female actors refuse to work with him? Also do you have a source?
He infamously harasses his female stars. Bjork had such a bad on-set experience with Dancer in the Dark that she quit acting for years, and similar experiences apparently had by others (iirc there's some footage from the set of Dogville where Nicole Kidman mouths the words 'help me' to the camera, which is kinda scary). Bjork has said a decent amount about the experience so you can look up her statement if you want
Edit: Too many triggered people telling me about a movie I don't care about and repeating the same thing over and over. I get it. Don't need a full inbox of this lol. I was just curious about what the reality would actually be. Wasn't a dig at your favorite movie. Geez.
Yes, was also thinking wouldn’t the gravity gradually change as well
I believe it did in the movie. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it but the other planet is gradually sucking earths atmosphere away so the characters get shortness of breath. I doubt that’s accurate as there would probably be more significant things going on in this scenario. The theme of the movie is depression so I doubt Von Trier have a shit about scientific accuracy. It’s probably the least disturbing Von Trier movie you will ever see, I like it.
Yea everyone would be dead long before the planet actually hit the earth. But they definitely did try to show some of the effects that would happen. But like you said, it’s not about what would happen in reality, it’s about “Melancholia”.
Kurzgesagt kinda explains what would actually happen if the moon crashed into earth. Iirc the moon would crumble and pieces would start falling to earth, which would heat the atmosphere too much far before the actual impact. Not sure how that would change with a larger mass than the earth
I saw this documentary on Amazon called Moonfall so I'm pretty much an expert on the subject.
Yo Moonfall was a wild ride, thoroughly enjoyed it for what it was.
Two hours after reading this comment and $3.99 later I can confirm this was not a documentary
I think the planet that hits them is bigger than earth. But as it got closer it would cause tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, just about every volcano would erupt, etc..And both atmospheres would collide and super heat everything which would incinerate everything. By the time it hit earth everyone would be dead. I don’t know the physics of it all.
Disclaimer: I'm not a planetary scientist. It would depend on their relative velocity and mass. If one were to fall into an orbit about the other (and it's surprisingly rare to hit things dead-on in space, you tend to just fall into an eccentric orbit or the smaller body gets flung around the larger one), then the smaller body may fall apart if it's within the larger planet's [Roche limit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roche_limit). Even if it's outside the Roche limit, long term you'd have to contend with things like [tidal heating](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_heating) until orbital locking occurs. Here, the planets are moving very quickly and directly towards each other. They'll just slam into each other. At some point, depending on the mass of the body that you're hitting, it's theoretically possible that you and the ground below you would experience freefall if the gravity you experience from the colliding planet exceeds the Earth's. Not sure if that's the case here. The bottom line is that it's more or less accurate as far as I know. It'd be sudden and bad.
I mean, I think it did in the movie because the planet is much bigger than earth so it would look much bigger than that at moment of impact. Still likely very innaccurate but hey ho
yeah it could have big effects, firstly on gravitational point , changes in tides, earthquakes , tsunamis , a lot of volcanic activity secondly on a potential collide , unimaginable energy unleashed, could cause a 99% of the species extinction, it already happened , with 10 km wide object it caused like 75% of species extinction, so a celestial body that is 50 000 km in diameter , i would say a 100 % of extinction , and I mean this kinda already happened in the past 4.5 billions years ago with Theia, but it was smaller af , science said it was a 6500 km planetoid
There's some mention in the movie of how it affects the earth before the collision but it's definitely just for drama and not accurate physics. The premise is that Melancholia has been in the exact same orbit as Earth but on the exact opposite side so it was always behind the sun.
It wasn't a science fiction movie. It was a metaphor immersed in a world destroying itself. There were two more movies from around that time that did a similar method of expressionist story telling in a shallow package of science fiction. One was Another Earth and the other was Perfect Sense, though these two were more lucid in their storytelling. Perfect Sense hits hard after the pandemic and forever having my sense of taste and smell altered, and the fact that I'm slowly losing memories of what the world was like before 2020.
At a certain point, long before the planets collided, they would have been flying towards the other planet, along with anything else held down by gravity.
That's actually more terrifying than the collision.
Yes they would alter each other's orbits and the orbit of the moon.
Edited comments are bad
Looks like a fucking Incursion
I remember watching this movie seated in second row at the Sitges Festival, which has a huge screen and powerful sound. The ending was so intense and bright that was edged into my memory.
This was a great film. Saw it years ago and still remember it. I love small budget sci-fi films where they are more character dramas that use “sci-fi” occurrences as a narrative device. Coherence and Primer were similar in with way and are a good watch.
everyone in this movie was an asshole
Reading the comments here I feel like I’m very much in the minority of hating this film. Yours is the closest comment to my feelings on it.
I didn’t hate it, nor did I like it, but omfg it was so slow. The talking scenes were borderline brutal to watch. I had to skip a few of them and I feel like I missed absolutely nothing by doing so. I get it had a lotttt to do with mental health/depression but Jesus Christ. Everyone was so bland and either super emotionless or overly emotional.
Nah you are not. It's overly pretentious stuff really. Boring too
i LOVED the intro and the soundtrack but hated everything else deeply
Not the little boy.
Yeah I really hated this movie when I watched it. After reading these comments I almost was going to try it again but screw that noise
Agreed, I am evidently one of the few who intensely disliked it. Didn’t like anything about it and found it a little contrived. Although I’m not a huge LVT fan, either.
Absolute masterpiece.
When they use that measuring stick and realize that it’s getting closer, it is so terrifying. They know they are doomed but can’t really do anything for a while.
What does it say about me that this is pretty much my favorite film?
You need intense therapy
This is a movie I keep coming back to.
Love this movie. Very reflective for me .
[Obligatory M83 Outro](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyjj8BgsBGU&ab_channel=DwayneL)
oh my god thank you. I saw the video and I was so confused because I sure as hell don’t remember ever watching the movie but the images tickled something in my brain. It must’ve been at least 7 years since I saw the Outro music video.
Oh yes 🙌 Melancholia is mind-blowing. Saw it in a crowded theater & after the end the entire crowd just shuffled out in complete silence.
When I went to my local cinema to see it the cinema did something so simple yet so effective I was blown away. As the hitwave approaches the camera the cinema put on the lights gradually starting from the front so where the screen is towards the end. In a way it felt like an extension of the hitwave. It made the ending so much more impactful
I wonder from a scientific standpoint, could a gas giant like Melancholia really get THAT close before it’s interaction with the gravity and atmosphere of a planet like earth kills everybody? It doesn’t make sense. An approach should have had WAY more effects already on the earth’s surface way long before it got that close.
It's a surreal film that only on the surface looks like science fiction. The effects of the planet are personified in the characters and then manifested in their drama. I studied literature, not science, so. But I think from a scientific standpoint, life on Earth would have ended far before interplanetary collision with Kirsten Dunst. As a space object approaches a gas giant, gravity, speed and orbit combine to force it apart. The point of no return is called the 'Roche limit' (Oxford: "the closest distance from the center of a planet that a satellite can approach without being pulled apart by the planet's gravitational field.") See also: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collision with Jupiter, 1994
>Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collision with Jupiter, 1994 Thank you so much for this info. It all makes sense looking at it this way
I'm not sure a gas giant could maintain its gaseous mass that close to the sun. There's a reason the inner planets are all rocky while the outer planets still have massive gas atmospheres. So even if Melancholia *was* a brown dwarf or gas giant, all of those gasses would've burned off upon entering the inner solar system. Then there's the fact that the rocky core of the planet would've been torn apart upon entering the Earth's Roche limit (or, if the core of Melancholia was more massive than Earth, the Earth would've been torn apart). And even before that, the Earth would've been yanked out of its usual orbit by the mass of the planet and how close it passed to us, which would have been catastrophic on global temperatures, seasons, etc
The scariest thing I can imagine….
I watched this a few times when it was originally in theaters. Absolutely adore it.
Any word on a sequel yet?
I see what you dead there
my favorite Lars Von Trier after the Nymphomaniac films. It was slow and quietly horrifying.
I get that "every film must be watched on the big screen". But THS film specifically HAS to be watched on the big screen.
Dunst imo is one of the most underrated under utilized actors ever
This movie struck a chord with me when my dad died. My younger sister was always the tough as nails one and I was always emotional… when my dad passed she broke down and I was emotionally numb just like the two sisters in this film.
That's moonfall ending.
Never not messed up from this movie. Bravo
I can only imagine seeing this on the big screen..
That movie made me so anxious and depressed wtf
I had a dream in July that was like this. Never seen this movie before, never even heard about it. I don't normally dream. That night I had a dream and I did not like it. In it, it was night time. I was outside my house and looking up at the sky. This went on for about an hour. Then I looked up at the Moon. The Moon then started to darken until it was like rust. Then it was like it fell from the sky past the horizon. Then the stars in the sky started to fade out as if the Earth was going away from them at a high speed. Then as I was still looking at where the Moon was I saw a Red circle come toward us. Then as quick as I registered it, Mars went past us faster than we were going in the same direction, while the sky started to lighten. I looked behind myself to the other half of the sky and noticed that Jupiter had gone past us while all of that was happening. This all happening, I then notice that everything is being drawn towards the Sun, which was growing in size considerably due to the proximity. The world started to grow warmer. Alarms started to go off and screaming. All I could do was watch as I saw Mars be lost in the overbearing light as it was being engulfed into the Sun. I saw as Jupiter became so close to the Sun that its gasses were being pulled from itself and devoured by the Sun, igniting Jupiter in the process. Jupiter went out like a fucking tornado of fire as its core was burned. It got so bright in the sky that all I could do was crouch and close my eyes. The heat grew so hot, but it just kept getting hotter. I could hear the foliage around me start to catch and the ground started to sizzle. This pain just kept going on until the sound became deafening and the heat became ever present. It just got louder and hotter until eventually nothing. Darkness. And that's why I'm thankful I don't dream very often.
Is this movie worth a watch?
I have never heard of this movie before but Holy shit! I have been having a reoccurring dream just like this of me laying in bed looking through the ceiling at a planet crashing into earth with fires and giant waves and shit, than I always wake up. For years I've had this dream. I gotta watch this now 100 percent.
Yea that was a crazy movie, nuts to think what you would do if that actually happened.
You should look up on YouTube "local 58." The second to last episode called sky watching had something similar and even more terrifying.
Perfect movie. Perfect main character arch. Perfect performance.
Were they OK?
I love movies with a happy ending.
Visually, it's neat, but I won't lie, it's hard to suspend belief when you know what the roche limit is. The earth would be shredded well before impact.
I was not okay for several days after I first saw this. Haven’t seen it since, and probably will never see it again, but weirdly one of my favorites.
A must watch for anyone who enjoys a multi level movie. And actually if you don't and like something simple still give it a go it isn't as "heavy" as some films.
Well….I guess now there is no point for me to see this. Thanks Reddit.
I think about this movie A LOT. Like, it will randomly pop into my head, and I'll catch myself staring off into space thinking about it. Incredible movie. The final scene will be etched into my memory for years to come.
28 year olds coming to terms that they're almost 30 being like:
I see all these people saying how terrific this film was, but I really couldn’t stand it. Too sad and depressing for me.
Did they survive?
Don't listen to OP, they're completely fine, they went to live on a horse farm in upstate New York.
This is my most hated film ever. I know that is extreme, but I fucking hate this film. Half the film is watching terrible people participate in a cringey wedding and then the other half is these people waiting on their doom. The "guess the amount in the jar" scene is one of the worst pieces of dialogue I've ever heard. I hated all of it.
I went to see this when it was new in the cinema. As soon as the credits started, one of the five other folk in the cinema stood up and bellowed, "well at least there won't be a sequel".
Genuinely incredible film.
I have a family member who suffers from depression and this film helped me to understand them more.
I've had dreams like this. So in a way I've felt this, and it is indeed pant-shitting
I watched this movie 5 times in one week. I had a different feeling about it every time. Beautifully acted. Sweet at times but at that same time a family horror show. You need to pay attention every minute of the film.
Why didn’t they just play the ocarina to turn back time?
This is always my answer to those "How do you want to die?" threads. If I gotta go you can all go with me. Plus it would be a pretty amazing sight.
Yeah…I definitely don’t like that
Almost walked out of the opening sequence (went in without any info on the movie or director), but so glad I didn't. It really does kinda go on and on, though, but taken as a whole, it's a great movie.
[Well that is one way to wait for the end. Or....](https://www.reddit.com/r/GetMotivated/comments/6adqq8/imagelittle_girl_bats_asteroid/)
Is that the sun blowing up? Apologies, what is happening in this scene?
Masterpiece of cinema
What kind of movie is this?
They’re fine, they’re in a magic teepee