Melancholia (Part 2)

First off; wow. This movie's been stuck in my head for quite a while now, even AFTER I wrote up my thoughts around it.

This time around, we're getting more spoilery, discussing a weird detail found in the filmand what von Trier meant by his comment "No more happy endings!".

As I said in my previous entry, there are a few things that bother me with this film, mainly the first "part" of it. I've had a lot of discusisons lately, both about and around this film, and more than ever do I now understand the neccesity of that first "part", and although I'm not ready to embrace it,  I probably will when I've seen the movie a second time. 

The topic-of-discussion this time centers around the Golf Course, mainly the 19th hole on the Golf Course (which can be seen toward the end of the film, in slo-mo.). Why is there a nineteenth hole on the Golf Course when it's stated MANY TIMES that this is an 18th Hole Golf Course? Is this a bad joke from Trier's side, or is it some subliminal meaning to this? 

Then to the "No more happy endings!"-thing - all Trier's movies can be analyzed towards having a "happy ending" (well, at least those I've seen). SPOILERS obviously:

• In "The Element of Crime", they catch the killer, thus fulfilling the "goal" of the MC. (Even if there's a new killer on the loose...)
• In "Antichrist", Willem Dafoe's character survives, and goes on to live his life, having faced horrible things.
• In "Dogville", all the bad people die.
• In Melancholia, however, the Earth is gone, mankind dead and our two main characters do not dare to face neither their problems, nor the danger that is going on. (Some would say they do face the planet at the end, but they don't; they just try to relax so they won't frighten the little boy).

This is what (I think) Trier meant by "No more happy endings!"; that even in a time of crisis, mankind cannot even begin to overcome their own problems, tragedies and depressions. We'll just wither away and die, hiding from every and any conflict for as long as we can.

The last part of Melancholia shows the sisters ACTING ("putting on a show") for the child, so he won't be scared. In doing that, they hide from any conflict they could've had, and because of this they do not find "redemption", "freedom" or "peace" within themselves. They choose to help the child while in reality they are using him so that they won't go mental. This is the human tragedy. This is Trier's ultimate "fuck you!" to the world. We shed from conflict all the time (like Justine does in her wedding), and we do not dare to face ourself, even if we have mere minutes left to live.