LARS VON TRIER REVEALS PLOT DETAILS FOR [MELANCHOLIA]

Director Lars von Trier has revealed some plot details for his upcoming film, Melancholia. Last summer, Trier invited members of the press to the film’s set in Sweden where he disclosed that the plot would involve two sisters and a planet heading for Earth. A German publication Politiken expanded upon the stories and ideas behind Melancholia. We now know that the disaster will not be the climax of the film as one would expect, but actually the very beginning.Trier states: “In Melancholia I start with the end. Because what is interesting is not what happens but how it happens! So we begin by seeing the world being crushed, then we can tell the story afterwards. In this way you don’t have to sit and form theories about what will happen, but can delve down into some other levels and become interested in the pictures and the universe – that’s what I imagine.” Trier goes on to explain that the film is really about two sisters; one of them melancholic and the other more “normal.” The two are played by Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg. The pair respond to the coming cataclysm in different ways. “There are beautiful pictures as [the melancholic sister] is just standing there looking at the planet that comes closer and closer and accepts it. The other woman, on the other hand, becomes increasingly panicky. It could be beautiful if ‘Melancholia’ could become this big submission. That is why it’s so awesome that the planet devours the earth. It’s like no more lying on the hilltop and looking at the larks. I think the larks will go too.”

This will be Trier’s first film since his very controversial Antichrist in 2009. Melancholia is currently set for a May 26^th, 2011 release.