{"id":8737,"date":"2017-08-03T00:00:09","date_gmt":"2017-08-03T04:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/operawire.wpengine.com\/?p=8737"},"modified":"2018-01-09T13:53:58","modified_gmt":"2018-01-09T18:53:58","slug":"opera-meets-film-how-wagners-tristan-und-isolde-lars-von-triers-melancholia-are-married-through-suffering-destruction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/operawire.com\/opera-meets-film-how-wagners-tristan-und-isolde-lars-von-triers-melancholia-are-married-through-suffering-destruction\/","title":{"rendered":"Opera Meets Film: How Wagner’s ‘Tristan und Isolde’ & Lars Von Trier’s ‘Melancholia’ Are Married Through Suffering & Destruction"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cOpera Meets Film” is a feature dedicated to exploring the way that opera has been employed in cinema. We will select a section or a film in its entirety, highlighting the impact that utilizing the operatic form or sections from an opera can alter our perception of a film that we are viewing. This week\u2019s installment features Lars Von Trier\u2019s \u201cMelancholia<\/a> (2011).”<\/em><\/p>\n

Lars Von Trier\u2019s \u201cMelancholia\u201d has but one major musical number throughout its 2-hour running time, but that very piece gets repeated several times throughout the movie.<\/p>\n

The number in question? The glorious prelude to Wagner\u2019s \u201cTristan und Isolde,\u201d one of the most revolutionary pieces of music in all of human history and one noted for its ability to express the deep and painful yearning in all of humanity.<\/p>\n

The prelude is actually the perfect fit for Von Trier\u2019s film, a treatise on the eternal suffering of women and the incoming destruction of the world. The title, of course, means \u201cmourning,\u201d and relates directly to the planet set to collide with earth and destroy it forever. In a way, human insistence on suffering is bringing about its own destruction. Both opera and film could not be more in line with the thinking of Arthur Schopenhauer, the philosopher that inspired Wagner’s famed opera.<\/p>\n

\u201cMelancholia\u201d centers on two different women, Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) as they navigate two seemingly tragic moments in their lives. Justine is increasingly miserable and apathetic throughout her wedding party while Claire can\u2019t come to grips with \u201cMelancholia’s” imminent crash.<\/p>\n

Suffering From The Start<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wagner\u2019s glorious prelude actually kicks off the film, Von Trier letting it play out in full to slow-motion images related to imminent destruction or human impotence. The first image is of Justine’s disheveled face, opening her eyes, as dead birds fall behind her. Destruction is imminent.We see a horse falling backwards at one moment, his surroundings dark and dreary. Later on, we see Claire carrying her son across a golf course, her movements limited and the feeling of vulnerability at its utmost. Her gaping mouth reminds us of Edvard Munch\u2019s famous \u201cThe Scream\u201d painting. At another instance, Claire runs from screen-right to screen-left but her long wedding dress seems entangled with fallen branches, making her almost immobile. In much the same way that Wagner\u2019s prelude never quite finds harmonic resolution, these images pierce our minds for their intense sense of suffering. In the same way, Wagner tells us his opera is about never-ending suffering, so too does Von Trier regarding his film.<\/p>\n