Hello my dear Steemians! It has been a while since my last movie analysis due to my offline reality, but here it is - Melancholia. Anyone who's into movies should be familiar with the work of Lars Von Trier and certainly knows he's not the easiest artist to digest.
If you have a plan for your first date to be the magical cinematic experience under the stars as a romantic overture to the "rated R" expectations of what comes after, well, I'm kinda dubious if this movie would be the right pick. Unless these panties you're trying to pull down are the one covering the private parts of a nihilist.
THE SON OF EXISTENSIALSM
Existentialism leaks through every single pore of his dark and somewhat maleficent mastery of film making. His body of work contains numerous pictures you could analyse all day long as his characters vowel in day to day pain of mere existence. Breaking the waves, Dogville, Dancer in the dark, Nymphomaniac(s) and Antichrist are the ones I "enjoyed" so far and any of these masterpieces deserves a paragraph or two of analytical word bowing down his uncompromising shots of underlying abyss.
MELAN CHOLE
Melancholia, from an ancient greek - "Melan chole" or "the black bile" as Hippocrates proposed in the Nature of men. According to Hippocrates "Melan chole" is one of four essential bodily fluids, along with Chole (bile), Sanguis (blood), Phlegma (mucus) and the overall ratio of these fluids in our bodies determines our personality types - sanguine, choleric, melancholic and phlegmatic. Looking forward to the birth of a modern analytical thought based on this premises. I can imagine it would be a real ground break in scientific field, something like flat Earth theories nowadays. Wink.
THE MODERN PLAGUE OF NOTHINGNESS
As I'm being sarcastic right now it's possible that I'm neglecting the fact the depression and anxiety are becoming the epidemiological plague of modern time. Rising in proportion with the human progress. When did it go wrong? Or maybe the better question, did it ever go right for humans? Why is that so?
WHY, OH WHY?
Historical overview of human preoccupation with fear, loss and death made me conclude that chronology of time is making an imperative on us to find the cause and solution to these high end morbidities. Epidemiological studies suggest that diffuse anxiety and depression in human hearts unrelentingly corrode the empathy in our surroundings, vital to the core of our existence, as well as living in peace and harmony. Dynamics of history that arises from the evolution of human mind encourages us to create a world where we fell at home, in peace with ourselves and others. If we look at anxiety and fear as an intrapsychiatric forces that are pushing us forward in reaching this goal, we can also point out that they are rooted in conscience of our limited capacities and all these aspirations we will never be able to achieve. We are born with fear and we bare through life fused with it. That's our undisputed dimension. But still, we go forward, unveiling the unknown and desperately fulfilling the blind spots in our knowledge with answers. In need to apologize and justify our being. Modern science and all the progress we make will not take any stake in mutilation of these facts, but we can hope it will help us bridge internal gaps and alleviate the longing for the absolute and bring us closer to some other shapes of harmony. Inwards and outwards.
JUSTINE'S MENTAL STATUS (I've pin pointed few features, not the whole status)
From the clinical point of view the main character Justine beautifully depicts the clinical features depression in its full form superposed with psychotic features. Still, we don't know much about her background nor about her psychic state prior the time we engage the story. And yeah, world is coming to an end, but I'll ignore that for the sake of "more realistic" analysis. If the one is even possible.
APPEARANCE, ALERTNES, ORIENTATION, ATTENTION
Justine doesn't look like someone suffering from severe clinical depression, or any mental disorder whatsoever. She's alert and oriented, at least in the first third of the movie. Attention is hypovigilant though.
MOOD, BEHAVIOUR, AFFECT
Her mood ranges from depressed to somewhat indifferent as her psychic state deteriorates over time. She's slow in motion with brief moments of agitation. At one point her depression get's to the extent of catatonia. It's not so often in unipolar depression as it is in psychotic disorders or depression in a bipolar affective disorder. Her facial expression seems intact at first, in a sense that we could tell if she's sad or anxious, but as the movie goes on her affect gets distant and blunt.
THOUGHT PROCESS
I can't recall if Justine had any spontaneous verbal production. Her answers are laconic usually, coming after latency. She doesn't produce any delusional content, but ones can not be excluded easily. Sometimes the state of depression becomes so severe in pessimism and negativism to the extent of delusions of self inadequacy or delusional ideas of upcoming disaster or doom. We can argue if or when a nihilism is a form of delusional thinking, just as we can argue where's the border of common sense when it comes to religious beliefs. For example, believing in God certainly doesn't mean you're psychotic, as it is commonly accepted, adopted and glorified in some cultures, even though there is no physical evidence of Gods existence. Some would say that believing in afterlife is just a defense of our ego from the fact that we are going to die at some point.
COGNITION
If we consider her success in professional life and the overall aspect of her appearance it's not hard to conclude that she's at least mediocre when it comes to cognitive functioning. But as movie progresses it's hard to connect Justine with any kind of mental brilliance. She seems dull and slow which is one of the symptoms of depression, but could also be the sign of psychosis.
PERCEPTION
So, the world comes too an end, that's the reality in the movie. It's hard to even hypothetically explore her perception as valid or not. But it's not that hard to imagine a delusion of the end of the world in "real life" Justine. She is dying emotionally, and the world around her gets extincted accordingly. She doesn't seem to hallucinate. Unless the scene with some kind of magical white light/energy leaking out of her body comes form her point of view, but that would be highly unlikely. I'll take it as a brilliant photography of psychic energy evaporating through the body of someone suffering.
WILL
Anhedonic, abulic and even catatonic at times. Justine became a plant like being, slowly pining away.
SUICIDALITY
If she had any energy left, I'd guess she'd spend it on self destruction, or even suicide. I guess she ruminated about it most of the time. Melancholia was here to save her.
DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS
We lack too many facts to jump to conclusion in establishing the right diagnosis. We don't know the duration of her state, is this her first depressive episode, if she had any psychotic or manic episodes prior etc. We don't even get much from her personality as we get to know her in the state of acute and severe mental distress. There are some clues of positive family background of mental illnesses when we meet her mother (in terms of some kind personality disorder).
DIAGNOSIS
Diagnosis according to ICD (International Statistical Classification of Diseases ) - 10th revision
F32.3 (single episode of major depression with mood-congruent psychotic symptoms) vs F29 psychosis
TREATMENT
Intensive hospital treatment based on pharmacotherapy. Combination of SSRI (antidepressant) such as escitalopram and atypical antypsychotic like olanzapine or clozapine. There is always a risk during first two to three weeks when treating a suicidal person with an SSRI's in worsening suicidal tendencies. The effect of an SSRI in first two weeks is manifested in recovered will and motivation. Now it doesn't sound bad at first, but if you consider the fact that person still want's to die and now has the energy and will to make it possible. After a month of treatment with supportive approach, we could expect sings of full recovery. She'd still have to be on medication (at least an antidepressant) to prevent the relaps, which are usual in upcoming months. Psychotherapeutic approach would depend on the maturity of her ego and it's functions.
I need to note that movie is so beautifully photographed and composed and I truly enjoyed it. It's not for any taste I guess, but I'd recommend you to take the guts and swallow it as it is. It's not sweet, but hey, Is life always? There are worse things than recent crypto crash, right? Melancholia punch is harder to recover.
Enjoy it when it lasts :)
source Lars, source energy, source photo 1, source photo 2, source photo 3, source photo 4, source photo 5, source photo 6
