A Perspective on Melancholia

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I chose Justine from the movie Melancholia as my subject for interpretation. After careful consideration I chose to give her the diagnosis of Major Depressive disorder with melancholic features (296.23 (F32..2) with melancholic features) as specified in the DSM V Manual. My rationale for this diagnosis is multifold. From the very opening of the movie she’s portrayed as tough she is held in suspension displaying a face of dulled affect seeming almost expressionless as if frozen in time and disconnected from external reality. As with the title of the movie her opening presence is marked by the distinct qualities associated with Melancholy. Some of these include what seems like a complete indifference to activities that might have been pleasurable in the past accompanied by a disposition lacking in reactivity or psychomotor agitation. Most of this state is present throughout the movie while being interrupted by sunny pretenses which serve as a means of having to interface with the societal constructs surrounding her.

These pretenses eventually breakdown and expose a full blown major depressive disorder that is accompanied by melancholic features. This revelation is well synchronized by the planet melancholias emergence from “hiding behind the sun” as it starts to “pass by us”, utterances conveyed by justinces nephew Leo. At this point Justine completely absolves herself of the sunny pretenses she displayed at her opulent wedding and takes a full plunge into melancholia. Hints of this covert state rear their head even before her full plunge as depicted by her long breaks and needs for isolation that she is engaged in throughout the proceedings of the wedding. At the beginning of the movie she is well presented and any depressive symptoms are neatly veiled. As the wedding proceeds she soon starts to reveal the thin layer she is dragging herself under eventually disassociating herself from all activities deemed functional and conducive within her environment such as her job affiliation and marriage. At one point, which foreshadows her total collapse, she declares to her sister Claire, “ I’m pulling myself together” (min 29, movie) and “its feels really heavy to drag along” (min 31 20, movie). Another major depressive symptom she conveys is Hypersomnia or oversleeping which in apparent throughout the second half of the movie. Overall she presents nearly all traits associated with Major Derpressive Disorder which include

a depressed mood most of the day, nearly everyday A marked diminished interest or pleasure in all or almost all activities. Hypersomnia which is particularly presented as she descends into melancholia Psychomotor retardation nearly everyday. Fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day Recurrent thoughts of death (more symbolic of the her intuitive awareness of the circumstances the planet is faced with) All of the aforementioned symptoms are especially present and prominent in the second half of the movie which represents her descent into melancholia. There isn’t any marked decline in concentration or decisiveness as she is able to communicate with precision throughout the movie with the exceptions where she is unable to focus on the activities of eating or showering. Excessive or inappropriate guilt is not present with the exception where she seems like shes taking on the burden of her mother and her inability to reconcile with her. The one overall symptom that escaped clarity were any significant changes in weight loss. Overall she presents with enough symptoms to giver her the label of Major Depressive disorder. I attribute her melancholic features to her displays of prolonged empty mood, sullenness, and lack of reactivity to stimuli or disengagement from pleasurable activities.

Since only a timespan of what I’d consider approximately 2 weeks was presented all other possible differential diagnosis were excluded. There were moments where I considered Premenstrual Dysphoria but this was clearly not the case given the many situational factors enlisted in the movie. There was an instant where she gulped down a good deal of a bottle of whisky which made me consider a substance induced depressive disorder but that involvement ended up being an isolated instant. I also considered MDD w/ mixed features when she displayed activity involving high risk and potential for painful consequences during her sexual indiscretion with Tim. I also considered other specified depressive disorders, ones lasting for a shorter duration than 14 days but her condition seemed like it must have been of a longer duration especially as her forloness was forecast from the very opening scene of the movie. I also considered MDD with Catatonic features during here stage of complete stupor but this condition was inconsistently represented throughout the movie.

I feel that factors relating to her developmental, cultural and psychosocial history played a huge role in surfacing her presenting problems which led to her descent into full oblivion along with everyone around her. Set in a cultural climate that mimics late stage capitalism’s plays a huge consideration into the milieu she is operating within. This is amplified by the white upper class beorgeoise veneer that permeates the movie. Symptoms in such a culture beset with depression are conveyed through internal moods and Justine is decidedly moody. There is also a representation of natures onslaught in the face of containment and control, byproducts of the movies patriarchal backdrop. This onslaught is enacted by Justine and her symptomology and represented by the impending doom within the movie. Aspects of containment and control which are represented by her Husband, boss and brother in law serve as developmental triggers towards Justine’s mental illness. A huge developmental feature to consider is the level of attunement her parents had towards her as a child as this faculty is clearly not present within the relationship between her parents which is also marked by a barely held up facade and lack of attunement that is mirrored in Justines “disorder”. Justine’s Mother Gabe and Sister Claire seem to play a particularly noteworthy aspect of Justine’s developmental and Psychosocial history in the context of their cultural setting. Her mother Gabe’s extreme cynicism is incompatible at meeting her need for separation and individuation that is usually enabled by a good enough holding environment.

As she is unable to meet it externally within her environment and her subsequent lack of control in that domain makes her turn inward towards implosion that is eventually forecast over the entire social construction she is embedded in. Her Sister Claire, while faced with the same circumstances denies her circumstances through acts of mania an attempts at reparation as represented by the opulent wedding she immaculately orchestras through the funds collected from her husband who has made it in the game of conquest. Having Claire take on this role helps Justine counterbalance it with her acceptance of the reality of full immersion into a depressed state as it is mirrored by the impending doom of the Earth’s collision with the Planet Melancholia that is something akin to a death star. While Claire and her husband perceive melancholia as a passerby Justine submits to the full immersion of its eventuality and all encompassing nature. Mimicking her moms cynicism that is now fully introjected into her mental illness she vagrantly dismisses Claire’s last minute attempts at reparation and denial during the final countdown and submits to the full embrace of melancholia.

References

Trier, L. ., Foldager, M. L., Vesth, L., Dunst, K., Skarsgård, A., Sutherland, K., Hurt, J., … Memfis Film (Firm). (2012). Melancholia. Toronto, ON: Entertainment One Films Canada. American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: Author.