"Melancholia' no cause for joy in unrelenting downer from von Trier

Kirsten Dunst paints a maddening picture of a depressed person whose world is shattering around her in "Melancholia."

As Justine, she takes a nap during her wedding reception and morosely soaks in a bathtub while the celebration goes on without her. Just as her new husband, Michael (Alexander Skarsgrd), is preparing for their wedding night, Justine wanders off to a nearby golf course to have sex with a random male guest.

She tries to explain her psychological state: "I'm trudging through this gray woolly yarn. It's clinging to my legs. It's really heavy to drag along."

Her mom, Gaby (Charlotte Rampling), a nasty piece of work, points out that she always did wobble.

Justine's sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg), who speaks with a British accent and bears no resemblance to Justine, tries lamely to mollify her mother. But at times, she hates her.

Who can blame her?

"Is everyone in your family stark raving mad?" asks Claire's husband John (Kiefer Sutherland).

Writer-director Lars von Trier likes to project an image as the madman of art house films. (Remember all the attention he got at this year's Cannes Film Festival for proclaiming sympathy for Adolf Hitler?)

Here, he juxtaposes the end of life on a grand scale -- a new planet is possibly on a collision course with Earth -- with a severely depressed person's imploding world.

Nearly everyone in the film is unpleasant, their actions inexplicable, and the pace is so lugubrious that it's hard not to succumb to Justine's glum mood.

The film's title refers not only to Justine's depression, but also is the name of a planet that is poised to pass close to Earth.

Claire fears the planet will hit Earth. Justine bleakly opines: "Earth is evil. We don't need to grieve for it. Nobody will miss it."

A vaguely mystical feeling pervades the film's sci-fi elements, but the story is at its most tedious when focused on Justine's malaise.

She asks her sister, after the wedding debacle, "I t! ried, ri ght?"

The same uncertain plea could be made by director von Trier ("Antichrist"). While tight close-ups heighten the tension and early scenes resemble painterly illustrations, it's not clear what his story is trying to do beyond wallow in weariness.