Melancholia (2011) - Lars Von Trier

Join us for a deep-dive into Lars von Trier’s hauntingly beautiful Melancholia (2011), a film where cosmic annihilation collides with emotional apocalypse. Featuring powerhouse performances by Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, and Alexander Skarsgård, Melancholia is less about planetary doom and more about the quiet end of personal worlds—marriage, mental health, and the myth of control.

We’ll explore how von Trier’s vision reframes depression not as a weakness, but as a strange kind of clarity in the face of inevitable collapse. From Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde to the film’s painterly compositions, we’ll ask: what does beauty mean at the end of all things? And why does Justine smile when everyone else is falling apart?
Whether you’re a cinephile, a philosophy geek, or just wondering why this film hits harder in the 2020s than it did in 2011—this is the place.