MovieChat Forums > Melancholia (2011) Discussion > About the absence of God in this movie.....

About the absence of God in this movie...

posted 9 years ago by elisabethskoven
11 replies | jump to latest

With Lars Von Trier we should know that religion somehow is always an element in his films even when it's not there.

In this film I think it's almost a point in itself that religion was left out of the film. He describes a lot of people without many values and a maincharacter who struggles to find meaning in life. She does not have God in her life which would have made everything more meaningful. The film made me want to believe in God to avoid the emptiness of these characters. Therefore maybe even the moral of the film is: Start believing.

The same in Dogville where Von Trier purposefully left religion out-"I didn't want religion to enter the film". The preacher of Dogville had left and never been replaced and so they missed a moral leader and had to do with pseudointellectual Tom. That's also a way of saying-look how terrible everything can become without a truly moral center.

LVT I know from reading his biography is someone who would really, really like to believe, but just can't. What do you think about this theory?

[–] tematy 8 years ago

I thought we've been through this. "God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?" — Nietzsche, The Gay Science, 1882.
The movie is definitely not about God or starting to believe in God. It's about meaninglessness, with or without God. I don't believe Justine is mentally ill like many others suggest. The movie is really about death that awaits us all, no matter if a planet destroys us all at once or we die one by one. The movie is made to make us think about these things more vividly. That, I believe, is the only purpose of this movie.

[–] drjukebox 8 years ago

And so it belongs in the realm of pretentiousness

If that's all there is
if that's all there is
then lets keep drinking
bring out the booze and
let's have a ball

[–] KutWrite 8 years ago

I like your theory.

It also fits with my theme for this movie: Squandering one's gifts.