Directed by: Lars von Trier
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Alexander Skarsgård
Rating: R
136 minutes

From left: Kirsten Dunst, Alexander Skarsgård, Kiefer Sutherland, and Charlotte Gainsbourg star in “Melancholia.”  (Courtesy photo)

It's a great feeling, realizing while you're sitting in the dark of a movie theater that what you're seeing is unlike anything you've seen before. While that sounds like a cliché, sometimes it's just true. It's how I felt when I first saw "Dr. Strangelove" and "Apocalypse Now" and "Annie Hall," to name a few. It's also how I felt seeing Lars von Trier's new sci-fi family drama "Melancholia."

This movie could better be described as two movies in one, beginning as a drama dealing with depression and turning on a dime at the halfway point into a doomsday flick. We begin on a posh country estate with Justine (Kirsten Dunst, "Spider-Man"), who has just married Michael (Alexander Skarsgård, TV's "True Blood"). While the two look extremely happy at their wedding reception, we learn over the course of the evening that Justine is actually battling a crippling depression. Her sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg, "Antichrist") tries desperately to attend to Justine, having planned the whole reception for the sole purpose of bringing her out of her gloomy stupor. The plan fails, though, and the reception is a failure, with family members letting feuds get in the way of the celebration. What's worse, they all seem to blame Justine for the fiasco.

We then shift to Claire's perspective for the next several days after the wedding, as she remains at the estate with her husband John (Kiefer Sutherland, TV's "24"), her young son, and Justine. She tries to stay upbeat, but something ominous is in the air. Lo and behold, the planet Melancholia is approaching Earth, and while John, an astronomer, swears they're in no danger of a collision, Claire has her doubts. Justine, whose depression has turned into something of a mystic sensibility, doesn't help Claire's anxiety, telling her that a collision isn't just probable, it's certain.

As Melancholia gets closer and a disaster becomes imminent, Claire begins to unravel, trying to plan for the inevitable while simultaneously telling herself it won't happen.

Only a very special director could get away with having two unconventional plots in one movie, but thankfully, von Trier ("Dancer in the Dark," "Dogville") is very special. While the lack of interaction between the plots can make the film feel disjointed, it is no less striking because of it. The filming style is also split into two extremely different styles; the family scenes are done with an informal shaky-cam that puts us right there in the room, while the cosmic scenes (more picturesque moments than scenes, really) are done with such precision they look unreal. The latter are even modeled after famous paintings and filmed in a bizarre slow motion that makes them surreal to watch. The opening sequence itself is just ten minutes of these strange but beautiful images.

Von Trier pulls no punches in his visuals, and the movie is that much more interesting as a result.

The family drama aspect of "Melancholia" can drag at times, especially when we viewers are itching to see more of those surrealist moments, but the acting is phenomenal and the dialogue, belying the supernatural themes, is surprisingly true to life.

Dunst and Gainsbourg give some of the best performances I've seen all year. Dunst goes all out in her portrayal of a victim of depression, in what should be her breakout role as a serious actress. Gainsbourg, meanwhile, is superb; she balances love and frustration in the first half of the movie, and during the second half goes from being the only put-together person around to being broken and terrified. The performances are memorable all around, but the two lead actresses are the clear focus (except for the actual planet Melancholia, which is something of a character itself), and they are flawless.

My only lingering doubt about "Melancholia" is the question filmmakers should avoid leaving with their audience: What was the point?

It's an interesting movie, and a gorgeous one at that, but I don't know what the family-centered plot had to do with the end-of-the-world plot, and vice versa. With just about any other movie, such a concern would sour the whole experience, but "Melancholia" is a special movie. And for von Trier, it represents a major achievement, a concept delivered as completely and perfectly as possible.

Danny Eisenberg is a 2010 graduate of the Bromfield School and is currently a student at the University of Pennsylvania.