Was I the only one expecting this to be a sci-fi film and not a drama

Melancholia

I wanted the film to be about the planet and what it did to the inhabitants of planet Earth. Instead, the film is about a depressed girl and after about 70 minutes of being shown how *beep* her life is the planet finally comes into the picture. It still doesn't feel as great as it should as they don't pay their imminent death as much attention as they should - at least not until the final 30 minutes. Until then its just treated as a background thing ad the script continues to focus on the girl trying to come out of her depression.

The film could've been extremely cool - if the concept were used to explore how mankind would react to such an event, rather than just use it for the backdrop of a story about a depressed girl trying to get better. If the story followed three families, all across the globe, each with different personalities, and just showed how each of them may handle this. Like, some characters become scared and cry uncontrollably during their final moments, while some become like Rust Cohle and talk about how the Earth deserves is because its "evil" (like how Justine does in that ONE scene... That only scene) or some people choose to not think about anything other than joy. Like, they accept their death and just stand out in the rain as the planet approaches. It could have been used to show how each individual in the world reacts differently in the face of adversity. Instead its such a lame story about a family that isn't very functional.

It IS extremely well made. The direction is one of the best I've ever seen - so precise and real, it feels like you're actually watching a documentary - praise to the acting too. Its beautiful as hell, with some great slow motion shots that are just stunning. I really liked the shaky cam too, I know a lot of people don't, but I thought it created a sense of intimacy and artistic expression.

This film is good, I just think the concept could've been used for something better.

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Was I the only one expecting this to be a sci-fi film and not a drama

Seems like a waste of a great concept to me.

I enjoyed the film for what it was - a very well made art film about depression - but I just wish von Trier's script had delved more deeply into his ideas involving the evil of humanity and the Earth. It could have been such a brilliant watch.

I didnt know a lot about the film going in other than the IMDb plot summary.