81
Metascore
41 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100EmpireKim NewmanEmpireKim NewmanVon Trier is a burr under the hide for many viewers, and the unconverted won't be convinced. But it's audacious, beautiful, tactful filmmaking and perhaps the perfect match for "The Tree Of Life" on a bipolar double bill.
- 100Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumA movie masterpiece...is Lars von Trier's ecstatic magnum opus on the themes of depression, cataclysm, and the way the world might end.
- 100VarietyPeter DebrugeVarietyPeter DebrugeFor all the tyrannical disdain he's shown other filmmakers over the years, von Trier once again demonstrates a mastery of classical technique, extracting incredibly strong performances from his cast while serving up a sturdy blend of fly-on-the-wall naturalism and jaw-dropping visual effects.
- 100IndieWireEric KohnIndieWireEric KohnMelancholia hovers in ambiguity with riveting aesthetic prowess.
- 100The New YorkerAnthony LaneThe New YorkerAnthony LaneVon Trier's latest fable is nothing without its blaze of majesty - or, as his detractors would say, its bombast.
- 100New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNew York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinThe vision is as hateful as it is hate-filled, but the fusion of form and content is so perfect that it borders on the sublime.
- 90Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanPlenty of moments in Melancholia are painfully funny. Some moments are even painful to watch, but there was never a moment when I thought about the time or my next movie or did not care about the characters or had anything less than complete interest in what was happening on the screen.
- 88Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaPhiladelphia InquirerSteven ReaMelancholia is a remarkable mood piece with visuals to die for (excuse the pun), and a performance from Dunst that runs the color spectrum of emotions.
- 50Slant MagazineEd GonzalezSlant MagazineEd GonzalezThe poetic, referential succession of near-still images that opens the film so immaculately distills Melancholia's moody narrative and themes that it makes the two-hours-plus that follow seem impossibly redundant.
- 40Boxoffice MagazineRichard MoweBoxoffice MagazineRichard MoweThe second half, though, simply descends into chaotic banality as the sisters await their fate.