Well, this is a pleasant surprise on a Friday morning — the first trailer for the new Lars Von Trier movie, the end-of-the-world drama, “Melancholia.” Coming off the single most controversial film of his career, “Antichrist,” the beginning of this clip, which has debuted at the film’s official site (via @TimeOutFilm), might take fans of the unpredictable Danish helmer by surprise — it strikes one as a rather conventional wedding-set drama, reminiscent of “Rachel Getting Married,” or even Dogme classic “Festen.”
But before too long, some fairly impressive visual effects signify the arrival of a planet that’s been ‘hiding behind the sun,’ a planet on a collision course with Earth, and things get a little more Von Trier-esque, with nudity (the trailer’s definitely NSFW), wildlife going nuts, and Charlotte Gainsbourg having issues with motherhood.
As we’d heard, the basis of the story seems to follow the relationship between two sisters as the end of the world looms; one newly married (Kirsten Dunst, who seems impressive here), and the other older, with a family (Gainsbourg). The cast, who can mostly be glimpsed here, also includes Kiefer Sutherland, Alexander Skarsgard, Stellan Skarsgard, John Hurt, Charlotte Rampling, Brady Corbet, Jesper Christensen and Udo Kier, while there’s also some stunning digital cinematography at work by DP Manuel Alberto Claro.
It all looks pretty terrific, and seems like it could cross over more so than much of his recent work, what with the all-star cast and the apocalyptic premise — the film’s tagline seems to be “A beautiful film about the end of the world,” which seems entirely appropriate. We can’t wait: the film’s a strong candidate for a debut at Cannes next month, before a release in Scandinavia at the end of May, and one in the U.K. on July 1st. Magnolia Pictures have the U.S. rights, but there’s no word as to when they might release it.
