'Melancholia' Character Posters Include A Sheet For Lars Von Trier

Lars von Trier detractors often accuse the Danish director of being little more than a provocateur, and his impetuous demeanor when dealing with the media doesn't dispel that impression. That leads some — even our own Germain, in his review of Melancholia — to suspect that Trier's actual films are constructed, in part, as nothing more than button-pushing exercises. I tend to believe in the director more as an imp who has a healthy, if perverse sense of humor, and who takes the opportunity to enjoy unorthodox fun when he can.

Such is the case, I suspect, with the new character posters for Melancholia.

In anticipation of the film's UK release this weekend and October 7 VOD bow in the US (to be followed by a November 11 theatrical release) there are six new character posters for the film. They feature actors Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Alexander Skarsgård and John Hurt. But there's also a poster for Lars himself, which is even stamped with a 'persona non-grata' seal, mocking his expulsion from the Cannes Film Festival this past May. See all six below.

The director's poster got a laugh out of me, at least. That would have upgraded to a full-on guffaw if his had been one of the posters with the 'Enjoy it while it lasts' tagline.

[Empire]