This film was unlike anything I had seen before; none of the characters were introduced, their emotional problems unnamed. I spent almost the entire film wondering what was going on, only to be ambushed by overwhelming feeling in the closing scenes.
I struggled with the concept of this planet, Melancholia, flying by the Earth. It all became very real towards the end, when the terror displayed was so real I began to feel it too.
There were two or three strong ways featured in the film of dealing with this impending catastrophe, the first being to avoid it completely. The second, with complete calm. The third, sheer terror.
I can only describe what I saw and it is a very different position to witness.
The actress Charlotte Gainsbourg managed to summon terror as if the planet was actually going to crash into our own, when really all she had to accompany her were computer graphics, which no doubt were added afterwards. I can only wonder how she conjured such emotion within herself to make it all so convinving, playing the part of witness amazingly.
Approaching catastrophe is brave and I left the cinema awe struck.
A review at the Guardian, much different to my own. This is so due to my viewing of the film to see how catastrophe was approached.
