I surfed in and only caught the last ten minutes. The moon collision thing probably makes it sound like a cheesy 50’s flick, but it’s a fairly recent movie, no more than 5-10 years old, and it seemed like a quality production, not low budget.
Rumbling, ominous music is playing. Two slender white women not young, not quite middle aged (40-ish) are sitting outdoors under a peculiar open structure made of bent poles - a grape arbour, maybe.
One of the women is dark and the other is fair-haired. I don’t recognize the brunette actress but I feel I should know the blonde, who looks familiar. She’s been in movies in girl-next-door roles but I can’t recall her name. Kind of a Jennifer Anniston type.
This odd arbour structure where they’re sitting is set in a large green meadow. A golf course, maybe? The ominous music swells (good score - it’s effective and scary) and the women clasp each other’s hands then we see a shot of the horizon as the moon appears looming in the sky. The moon crashes into the earth and destroys the world. The end.
I tried to ID the film as it ended but the tv channel shrank the credits into one of those tiny boxes while they played a promo for the next show. Sitting across the room from the screen I couldn’t make out the title.
Any idea? If you’ve seen the whole movie do you recommend it?
So I checked out your IMDB link and I see that the blonde actress is Kristen Dunst. I shoulda recognized her. Since this is a sci fi movie, why is she in a wedding dress in the picture on the IMDb?
I know you haven’t seen it, ftg, but does anyone else know? And if it’s not the moon, what is it?
Because the first act of the film is about Dunst’s character’s wedding reception. It’s not a “space opera” sci-fi. It’s more a psychological study sci-fi.
It’s not the moon, it’s a rogue planet (the “title character,” so to speak, as it’s named Melancholia) that does a fly-by of Earth and is captured by its gravity and collides.
Do not expect accurate astrophysics…this is Von Trier. He not only didn’t try for accurate astrophysics, it wasn’t even a consideration. The film isn’t about the rogue planet or the collision or the little teepee in the yard at the end. It’s about how a depressed person handles imminent death and destruction.
Thank you, jayjay. Excellent explanation! The whole thing just sounds weird and not in a good way. Think I’ll give it a miss. I’m happy to watch the earth get blown up - that’s fun! But I don’t want to sit through 90 dreary mins of a bridezilla moaning about it in the lead-up.
Good call. That’s pretty much it. Dunst’s character is depressed, and she does things that look bizarre or ungrateful throughout the first act. Then in the 2nd act, when it becomes obvious that there will be a collision. her sister, who isn’t depressed, goes off the deep end from despair over the end of the world, while Dunst acts calmly and “normally”, comforting her sister’s children as they wait for the impact. It’s not meaningless or pretentious, but it IS kind of boring.