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Aesthetics and Depression in Lars Von Trier's Cinema

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Aesthetics and Depression in Lars Von Trier's Cinema 177 VANISHING POINTS AESTHETICS AND DEPRESSION IN LARS VON TRIER’S CINEMA CARLOS RUIZ CARMONA MARCO PEREIRA CAMPOS FROM ART AND DEPRESSION TO LARS VON & Berrios, 2004). Modern society offers the in- TRIER’S EXPERIENCE AND MOTIFS dividual freedom of choice, but “internal insecu- rity [is] the price of this liberation” (Ehrenberg, According to Alain Ehrenberg (2009: 8), depres- 2009: 12). Depression is one of the most wide- sion is a very serious medical illness that nega- spread illnesses of the new millennium, affecting tively affects how you feel, think and act. De- millions of people of all ages and genders all over pression causes feelings of sadness, pain, and a the world. general loss of interest or pleasure in activities Depression has become a key theme in many you once enjoyed. It can also lead to feelings of works of art, from paintings of renowned artists worthlessness or guilt and can trigger a tenden- such as Francis Bacon or Paula Rego to music cy towards self-punishment and provoke suicid- like Chopin’s Prelude in E Minor (Op. 28, No. 4, I), al thoughts. During the 1960s and 1970s, self-lib- and literature such as Jean Paul Sartre’s Nausea eration gained currency as a countercultural (1938). Recent years have seen a proliferation of movement and it was in this period that public art works dealing with, exploring or motivated awareness about depression and other mental by depression. The aesthetics of depression has illnesses began to spread. Since the 1960s, the also been explored by numerous scholars. In popularity of psychoanalysis has grown expo- The Aesthetics of Disengagement, Christine Ross nentially and depression has come to be recog- points to performance and video art where “sub- nised as part of the modern individual’s constant jects are imprisoned in time; unable to learn from struggle to achieve self-understanding (Callahan their failures, self-absorbed, and disengaged L’ATALANTE 32 july - december 2021 177 VANISHING POINTS from the other” (Ross, 2006: xvi) and analyses lieved that when he grew up all his fears would works by artists like Ken Lum, Ugo Rondinone, go away, but he was wrong. “It exploded even Vanessa Beecroft and Douglas Gordon. Cinema more,” he explains. “That was such a disappoint- is no exception, and the representation of the ment. An enormous disappointment” (Schepe- condition in film has varied according to its per- lern, 2015). After this realisation, the director ception and evolution in the psychiatric field. spent many years in therapy and on medication After the end of World War II in 1945, the need for his anxiety and depression, but in 2007 he for better diagnoses and treatments became ur- sank even deeper. “I was just lying, crying, for a gent due to the exponential rise in the number week, just staring at the wall. I couldn’t get up. of patients suffering from depression (Callahan I was so afraid. Fear is hell. It’s really hell. The & Berrios, 2004). The war had devastated Eu- worst” (Heath, 2011). A slow recovery followed rope and plunged its society into a pessimistic and while still very fragile he made the filmAn - existential crisis. This post-war trauma is in fact tichrist (Lars von Trier, 2009). To deal with his a subject in the early films of von Trier, whose condition, the director has often resorted to psy- academic short films include the despicable Nazi chotherapy and medication, maintaining an inti- as a recurring motif. mate relationship with them that is expressed in his films in both the narrative and the aesthetics; the hypnosis scenes in Epidemic (Lars von Trier, VON TRIER’S FILMS SUBVERT THE 1987), Antichrist and Melancholia are reflections CONVENTIONS OF THE MELODRAMA of his experience with depression. GENRE, WITH AN EMOTIONAL CHARGE Trauma is a recurring motif in von Trier’s ALWAYS ON THE VERGE OF A MENTAL films, and while the trauma/depression relation- BREAKDOWN ship is not linear, it is clear that the traumatic event is a catalyst for the character’s depressive episodes. This happens to She in Antichrist, after Lars von Trier has frequently spoken openly her son’s death, while in Melancholia, Justine suf- about several traumatic episodes in his life that fers from depression but there is no specific refer- influenced his interest in depression. It is no se- ence to a particular traumatic event. The reactive cret that the director has wrestled with anxie- depression of She contrasts with the existential ty, phobias and bouts of depression from a very depression of Justine. young age. In several interviews he has blamed Von Trier’s films subvert the conventions of his socialist mother for a lack of parental guid- the melodrama genre, with an emotional charge ance, leaving him to make his own decisions and always on the verge of a mental breakdown. In create his own rules (Björkman, 2005). Peter Antichrist, a psychological break with reality is Schepelern (2015), a former professor of von Tri- suggested in She’s violent psychotic episodes. er’s, suggests in an interview with the filmmak- Similarly, social and cultural conventions are de- er that just as Flaubert was Madame Bovary, it constructed, inviting debate and, above all, inter- could be said that von Trier is his female char- rogating our perception of the world. Von Trier acters. For instance, Justine’s vulnerability and places his characters in a game between those depression in Melancholia (Lars von Trier, 2011) who accept suffering as their natural fate—the are clearly a reflection of the director’s own immediate reality of their lives—and those who struggles. In that same interview, von Trier him- suffer existentially, alienated from the everyday self shares that throughout his childhood he be- world. L’ATALANTE 32 july - december 2021 178 VANISHING POINTS THE AESTHETICS OF DEPRESSION IN LARS sible context. In this sense, each scene evokes a VON TRIER’S CINEMA psychological failure of the character to deal with the situation within the limits of her abilities in Depression as a central and pan-filmic theme in some moments and a reaction of exasperated re- Trier’s career has been studied and analysed not bellion against the surrounding world in others. from an aesthetic point of view but from a phil- The scenes are analysed by contextualising their osophical perspective, focusing on ethical and place in the narrative, identifying elements of the moral issues, and from a narrative point of view mise-en-scène, and examining the characters’ through a cultural and social contextualisation of emotional reactions. the disease. It is for this reason that we need to understand how von Trier represents depression BREAKING THE WAVES: THE EMOTIONAL through filmic discourse. Can we in fact assume PROXIMITY OF DEPRESSION that von Trier’s own personal experience with de- pression informs his films’ aesthetics? Is it possible The first scene analysed, Jan’s departure (00:34:20 to identify a specific style to represent depression? to 00:37:30), concludes the second chapter of Does this audiovisual treatment vary in each film Breaking the Waves. It is the moment showing or has it remained consistent throughout his ca- the couple Jan and Bess’s first farewell, when Jan reer? leaves by helicopter to go work on an offshore Although we have in fact conducted a stylis- oil rig. The scene demonstrates Bess’s emotion- tic and thematic review of his entire filmography, al fragility, as she panics and faints in the arms for the purpose of this paper we have selected of her sister-in-law Dodo. Her reaction hints at three films, focusing specifically on two scenes something that she seems to know already—that from each film, to argue that von Trier’s cine- without Jan, her life will not be happy again. matic discourse is marked by a representation of Jan’s departure prompts Bess to keep a calendar depression. The three films chosen are:Breaking to mark his return; this calendar is the subject of the Waves (Lars von Trier, 1996), Antichrist and the second scene analysed, which takes place be- Dogville (Lars von Trier, 2003). According to our tween 00:46:20 and 00:48:20 in the third chapter. analysis, Antichrist and Breaking the Waves are Bess’s depression, which worsens over time, trig- the two films that contain most of von Trier’s es- gers another impulsive reaction: her panic over sential cinematic elements for the representation Jan’s departure gives way to rebellion in reaction of depression. Dogville, however, although it also to the lack of understanding of those around her. includes recurrent elements from previous films, Bess is at her mother’s house when Dodo arrives constitutes an exception in its representation of from work and is promptly confronted with the depression because it introduces new stylistic ele- disappearance of the calendar. Jan’s departure ments never seen before in his filmography. This takes place outside, in broad daylight, where the exception reinforces the suggestion of a particular helicopter takes off. This large, empty space is stylistic pattern in von Trier’s filmmaking. marked by the presence of the cars of the peo- Our analysis includes a detailed discussion of ple who, like Bess, are saying goodbye to the de- how the filmmaker uses light, composition, colour, parting workers. The scene uses natural lighting diegetic and non-diegetic sound, and editing to that accentuates the greyness of the day, blended represent depression. The scenes analysed high- in the mise-en-scène with neutral, unsaturated light moments of fragility in a character dealing colours of brown, beige and black.
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