Melancholia (Denmark/Sweden/France/Germany: Lars Von Triers, 2011)

Justine, the main character played by Kirsten Dunst in Lars von Trier’s Melancholia, is damned and beautiful, luminous and dolorous, spiraling and serene. At the center of the haute-doomsday film about worst-case scenarios, Justine is frustrating at first and freed at last, a bottomless well of whatever all the while. “I brought my own slant,” Dunst told British Elle in 2011 about the role, “but I am very much portraying Lars’s experience of depression. We met before I did the movie and talked about how the light goes out of your eyes.”For a time, Dunst’s expressive, depressive performance in Melancholia was overshadowed by a looming, destructive anomaly of sorts—in the form of von Trier’s unwelcome, viral ramblings during a 2011 Cannes press conference. But in the years since, as audiences have visited or returned to the film, it’s Justine who has proved to be Melancholia’s enduring gravitational force. Dunst successfully dims her radiance for the good of this role. Still, you can easily see she’s a star. —Baker

Melancholia (Denmark/Sweden/France/Germany: Lars Von Triers, 2011: 136 mins)

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