Melancholia (2008 film)
| Melancholia | |
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| Directed by | Lav Diaz |
| Produced by | Lav Diaz |
| Written by | Lav Diaz |
| Starring | Angeli Bayani Perry Dizon |
| Music by | Lav Diaz The Brockas |
| Cinematography | Lav Diaz |
| Edited by | Lav Diaz |
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Release date
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Running time
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450 minutes |
| Country | Philippines |
| Language | Filipino |
Melancholia is a 2008 Philippine film directed by Lav Diaz. It won the Horizons prize at the 65th Venice International Film Festival.
The film is divided into three parts, plus an epilogue, but these parts are not explicitly defined within the movie.
The film begins with a young woman getting dressed in prostitutes clothing and walking up a long road from her apartment. She crosses paths with a nun asking for alms and gives her some money. The nun continues on her journey and runs across a pimp who confronts the nun's charity work as "useless". The prostitute befriends a woman working a small convenience shack. On her way home, the prostitute comes across the pimp, who tries to lure her to work for him. She refuses saying she can 'take care of herself'. The prostitute has dinner at a small cafe, where a large man seems to recognize her and continually pesters her by referring to her as "Alberta". After leaving the restaurant, the prostitute attempts to please an American client, but starts crying and has to end the sex session before it begins leaving the American man angry and bewildered. The next day the nun continues to ask for money and the prostitute once again meets the pimp, who tries to bring her into his business. Later in the day, the pimp sets up a "live sex show" for some Japanese customers. The prostitute comes across the large man who keeps referring to her as "Alberta". He decides to ask for her services and pays her money. However, once they get to the apartment, the large man only asks the prostitute to take off her clothes and turn around several times. He examines her body and finally decides that she is not "Alberta". He then tells her the story of his childhood friend Renato Munoz, who ended up falling for a rich girl named Alberta and they both joined the Communist rebellion movement in the Philippines and he resents Alberta for taking his friend away from him. He says Alberta was obsessed with finding Renato after he became a Communist guerrilla fighter in the forest. That night the nun undresses in her room, looking depressed. She exits her room and enters the prostitutes room right next door and tells her that she's getting fed up with the therapy. We now realize that the prostitute, who's real name is Alberta Munoz, and the nun, who is really Rina Abad, are patients of a man named Julian Tomas who is having them undergo a role-playing therapy called MELANCHOLIA to help them mentally recover from the past tragedies and losses in their lives. Rina is starting to spiral into a depression and Alberta becomes concerned. The next day, she tries frantically to call Julian (the pimp) to tell him that they need to call the therapy session off. He screams at her that he is "not Julian" and refuses to break character. He instead invites Alberta and Rina to a live sex show he has planned for them. Throughout the duration of the sex show, Alberta and Rina are visibly disturbed by Julian's immersion into his character. The next day, Rina goes missing.
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