Finally the montage ended and the first part of the movie, named after Kirsten Dunst’s character, began. The opening scene was my favorite part of the entire movie, which probably tells you something about either my attention span or the movie’s progression. Anyways. It featured a happy newlywed couple in their limo, en route to their reception. The issue is, they are stuck at a sharp turn on a rural driveway. The limo driver cannot seem to back up the limo enough to make the turn, so the groom has his go at it. Kirsten Dunst, resembling a cupcake, gets out of the limo to help the groom navigate. After a long session of giggles and failed three-point turns, Kirsten squeezes her dress into the driver seat and has her go at it. Finally, the couple arrives two hours late to their party, greeted by Kirsten’s resentful sister.
The rest of the wedding party is a whirl of Kirsten’s clear bipolar disorder. One moment she is in a haze of romantic lust, the next she is in a bath wearing her wedding dress. This goes on for an hour, after which the movie shifts to Kirsten’s sisters segment, centered around the impending collision of Earth and the planet Melancholia, and the subsequent end of human life. This segment successfully explores the different ways human beings cope with the threat of an apocalyptic event, and ultimately how a human interacts with the emotion of hope.
Bottom line? This movie was extremely interesting, but I never felt connected to the characters in a way where I felt their emotions. Instead, I simply observed their multiple breakdowns from an extremely disconnected position. A rainy movie for a rainy day, indeed.