MELANCHOLIA

Lars von Trier (ANTICHRIST), contemporary cinema’s most notorious bad boy, may be persona non grata at the Cannes Film Festival, but critics worldwide have enthusiastically embraced MELANCHOLIA, his provocative, original, and visually sumptuous apocalyptic fable. Heedless of the rogue planet Melancholia looming in the sky and hurtling toward the earth, a swanky wedding takes place amid dissension and bickering. Sequestered on the plush family estate in the coming days, the flighty bride Justine (Dunst) and her sober, plodding sister Claire (Gainsbourg) stand poles apart in their reactions to the impending end of the world, until von Trier effects an emotional eclipse every bit as absorbing as the action overhead. 35mm widescreen. (BS)