I saw Melancholia
The news is that I saw Melancholia here in Paris where it came out on Wednesday (since France’s Wednesday is our Friday). I understand that Melancholia will come out in the U.S. at the end of September. My review will appear in these columns on the day of the release.
I’ve been watching a lot of video interviews of the actors and Lars Von Trier, and was struck by what appeared like major loyalty between Charlotte Gainsbourg–she shares main role duties in Melancholia with Kirsten Dunst and also appeared in Von Trier’s previous film Antichrist–and the Danish filmmaker. In one interview, Gainsbourg describes how shooting Melancholia was different from Antichrist in that the cast was bigger, it wasn’t as intimate as Antichrist, and she found it hard to “share” Lars Von Trier with anyone–of course, she said that while laughing but it sounded authentic.
This tends to illustrate further Gainsbourg’s lack of reaction to Von Trier’s profane and mean-spirited remarks (what some people have taken to calling “a gaffe”) during the film’s press conference in Cannes, in stark opposition to Kirsten Dunst (who won for Best Actress at Cannes for her role as Justine) whose reaction during the press conference, and after, was natural and fair. Dunst, who is beautiful and mesmerizing in Melancholia, rejected Von Trier’s rant and commented on it appropriately, as evidenced from this footage: “it was a stupid and idiotic thing.”
As far as I know, Gainsbourg never spoke out against the filmmaker’s grave and contemptible rant. During the press conference (see video above) she dutifully stares into space. I wonder what went through her mind. And now I ask myself this: why did Charlotte Gainsbourg never peak out against Lars Von Trier’s remarks?
And what would Hitler think of all this brouhaha?
Look for my review later in September.
"ALI: FEAR EATS THE SOUL" (1974)
One Comment
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What is there to speak out against? A few harmless nazi jokes and a minor jokingly critic of modern day Israel?
The most scary thing about the whole brouhaha is the knee jerk reactions from media and public and the band wagon that followed.
No only did Von Trier repeatedly state during the press conference that he was joking and ofcause didnt have anything against jews ets. He also issued an apology a few hours after and another one later in the day to whomever felt offended.
Was it tasteless? yes. Was it funny? Yes, some of it was actually funny in a very ironic way. Like saying he wanted to to do a movie about the final solution on journalist.
I think the reactions from media and part of the public was hysterical, exxagerated and gave me alot more to worry about regarding todays media and human behaviour, than some tasteless jokes from a mad artist, who only is being let out in the sun light one week a year during Cannes.
Many times truly artistic geniuses has a free thought association flow and if you ask the questions they stream of thought becomes a stream of words, unfiltered. If you analyze what Von Trier said and compare it with other interviews and his cinematic history, he actually has a VERY good point.
They are not politicians or speach writers.