A Bleak Kirsten Dunst Sci-Fi Movie Is Finally Finding An Audience On Hulu

To say Lars von Trier is a divisive filmmaker and artist is ... a massive understatement. Throughout his career, von Trier has written and directed groundbreaking, controversial movies like "Dancer in the Dark," "Antichrist," and "Nymphomaniac" — but now, one of his bleakest films, which also happens to star Kirsten Dunst, is finding new life on Hulu (via JustWatch).

Released in 2011, von Trier's film "Melancholia" is actually part of what he calls the "Depression trilogy" (it fits neatly between "Antichrist," which came out in 2009, and "Nymphomaniac," which hit theaters in 2013). While "Antichrist" focuses on a couple grieving a tragic loss and "Nymphomaniac" utilizes vignettes to chart the story of one woman's lifelong trauma, "Melancholia" takes a broader focus: Specifically, it tackles the end of the world.

Dunst stars as Justine, a woman who, as the film begins, is marrying a man named Michael (Alexander Skårsgard), with her sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and Claire's husband John (Kiefer Sutherland) among those in attendance. To say the reception doesn't go smoothly is also an understatement, particularly as Justine's mood gets worse and worse — culminating in a moment where she discovers Michael in a compromising position with a man and annuls the marriage entirely. All the while, a "rogue planet" dubbed "Melancholia" has appeared from behind a star called Antares and, as Claire and Justine discover, is set to pass by Earth. When things change and it becomes clear that Melancholia is not only set to collide with Earth but seems almost cosmically determined to do so, Claire, Justine, John, and Claire's son Leo (Cameron Spurr) initially try to escape, only for some of them to accept their fate with a strange sense of calm.

"Melancholia" is, to be clear, a surreal and bizarre movie, but it's also visually stunning and immaculately performed, particularly by Dunst and Gainsbourg. So, how did critics receive "Melancholia" when it first hit theaters?

On Rotten Tomatoes, the critical consensus for "Melancholia" reads: "'Melancholia's' dramatic tricks are more obvious than they should be, but this is otherwise a showcase for Kirsten Dunst's acting and for Lars von Trier's profound, visceral vision of depression and destruction." If this seems like a good sign for the film's overall rating, you'd be right; it earned a solid 80% on the review aggregator, and it also received a number of accolades. After the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, Dunst won the festival's award for Best Actress, both the New York Film Critics Online and the National Society of Film Critics named it the one of the top films of 2011, and much later on in 2019, publications like Vulture ranked it among the very best films of the decade.

Anyway, what about individual critics? For IndieWire, Lisa Rosman wrote, "In 'Melancholia,' [Lars] von Trier has created a mission statement of a masterpiece, one that reminds us that nihilism itself can serve as a legitimate form of creation, a means as well as The End." Bob Mondello seemed to agree; as he put it in his review for NPR, "It's a planet that can't come soon enough for her, but one that I kept willing away. Not, I'm a little embarrassed to say, to save humanity from 'Melancholia,' but simply to stay in this remarkable movie's presence just a little longer." Over at Slate, Dana Stevens seemed slightly more mixed but still arrived at a positive conclusion — "There's something about the solemn, gloomy, often overwhelmingly powerful experience of watching 'Melancholia.' I'll give it this much: This is a hard movie to forget" — and Andrew O'Hehir called it "the most composed and beautiful and conspicuously adult film of [von Trier's] career" in his review for Salon. Entertainment Weekly's critic Lisa Schwarzbaum, meanwhile, had some of the most effusive praise for the film, writing, "Although 'Melancholia,' by its very title, declares a mournful state of mind, the movie is, in fact, the work of a man whose slow emergence from personal crisis has resulted in a moving masterpiece, marked by an astonishing profundity of vision."

Not every critic was fully on board with "Melancholia," though. As Mike D'Angelo wrote for The AV Club, "There's a disconnect here between concept and execution — a sort of desultory, moment-to-moment clumsiness — that makes 'Melancholia' feel like therapy poorly disguised as drama." Over at Slant Magazine, Ed Gonzalez agreed: "'Melancholia' is a film of few epiphanies and even fewer insights, and as artful as the film's doom and gloom may be, its symbolism flounders." Certainly, the film isn't for everyone — but still, reviews were overwhelmingly positive. So, what has Dunst been doing since her lauded performance in "Melancholia?"

After "Melancholia" made waves in 2011, Kirsten Dunst didn't slow down one bit. A year later, she turned in two drastically different (and excellent) performances in "Bachelorette" and "On the Road," and in the years that followed, she leaned into much darker projects. (Perhaps "Melancholia" was something of an inspiration?) 2016, for example, saw Dunst appear in Jeff Nichols' sci-fi flick "Midnight Special," and in 2017, she reunited with her "Virgin Suicides" and "Marie Antoinette" director Sofia Coppola for the women-fronted, Civil War-era dramatic thriller "The Beguiled."

Dunst took a bit of a breather after that — aside from her short-lived TV series "On Becoming a God in Central Florida," which aired in 2019 — before returning in a big way in 2021 with Jane Campion's critically adored film "The Power of the Dog." This Western drama pairs Dunst with her real-life husband Jesse Plemons (the two would ultimately wed in 2022) and earned Dunst her very first Academy Award nomination (for Best Supporting Actress, specifically), which she richly deserved for her turn as troubled wife Rose Gordon.

In 2024, Dunst teamed up with visionary director Alex Garland for "Civil War," another divisive project that imagines a war-torn United States led by a president unwilling to yield his power even as enemy forces draw closer to the White House. (Something to think about, I suppose.) Dunst stars as Lee Smith, a wartime photographer who takes a younger photojournalist, played by Cailee Spaeny, under her wing. (Interestingly, Plemons also joined his wife in this movie, but for a small yet pivotal cameo this time.) Dunst, who rose to prominence thanks to her work as a child actor, teen fare like "Bring It On," and Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" films, is rightfully being hailed as one of the best performers of her generation after all this time ... and her turn in "Melancholia" is certainly a big part of that. (Also, she's one of the only Academy members who watches every movie, which is just important to mention.)

"Melancholia" is streaming on Hulu now.