Melancholia

Friday, May 23 - Thursday, May 29, 2025

PLEASE NOTE: Our elevator is currently out of service. Shows of MELANCHOLIA are on the second floor and only accessible by stairs. We apologize for the inconvenience. 

In this beautiful movie about the end of the world, Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Michael (Alexander Skarsgård) are celebrating their marriage at a sumptuous party in the home of her sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg), and brother-in-law John (Kiefer Sutherland). Despite Claire’s best efforts, the wedding is a fiasco, with family tensions mounting and relationships fraying. Meanwhile, a planet called Melancholia is heading directly towards Earth… MELANCHOLIA is a psychological disaster film from director Lars von Trier.

“This year I wanted to choose a film that I felt reflected what it is that draws me and you to the cinema, to the cult or even faith of film: an audio visual experience is, to me and so many others, one of the most amazing ways our species has attempted to transcend reality, to excavate from our experiences some pillar of truth and, more importantly, of wonder—to face the horrifying magic of living life only through one’s own eyes and ears. I have a love for Romantic films, like Melancholia, which tribute this maddening subjectivity, this constant reflection and bouncing back, back from every person and pattern we see, or want to see, to find something recognizable: a painting, a melody, a feeling, a sense of personal yet universal distortion. The theatrical experience indulges this, reflects and filters it through a projector and an audio system, regenerating this staged life into a real lived experience among people sitting not quite “together” but “beside each other.” When I was learning to project, the two senior projectionists often reminisced on projecting Melancholia together, how they put the last reel on and rushed down to the theater to experience that final sequence in surround sound, in the dark among the audience. I thought I ought to see it, finally, in a theater.” – Rhayne B., IFC Center Projectionist

Screening as part of our Staff Picks 2025 series

  • Country Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany
  • Language English
  • Year 2011
  • Running Time 136 minutes
  • Format DCP
  • Distributor Magnolia
  • Director Lars von Trier
  • Cast Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alexander Skarsgard, Kiefer Sutherland
  • Accessibility Assistive Listening, T-Coil

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.