Abstract

MEYER, Luiz. Lars von Trier's Melancholia and contemporary psychopathology. J. psicanal. [online]. 2013, vol.46, n.84, pp.239-251. ISSN 0103-5835.

Differently from approaches that see Lars von Trier's film as illustrative of a melancholic state, the author, from the standpoint of a concept that permeates the entire plot and functions as an interpreter - the slogan - sees it as a psycho-political reflection about the impasses where active subjects of western world find themselves surrounded by contemporary forms of capitalism and technological scientificism. The slogan is used by the main character - a publicist - as a prosthesis that replaces basic affective relationships. The need of using this prosthesis, which structures a hysterical form of behavior, is related to the character's original family dynamics. As this prosthesis loses its supportive role, emptiness and depression show up and afterwards a slow reconstruction of the now dis-alienated identity begins. Allegorically, this process is represented by the collision of a planet hurling through space and the Earth.

Keywords : Psychoanalysis and Cinema; melancholia; interpreter; contemporary impasses; hysteria.

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