"A beautiful movie about the end of the world": Trailer for Lars von Trier's follow-up to Antichrist debuts.

Two years ago at the Cannes Film Festival, Lars von Trier's film Antichrist caused immense controversy for its graphic portrayal of female sexuality and purportedly misogynist leanings.  Never one to shy away from controversy, let alone criticism, von Trier plans to head right back to Cannes and debut his new film, Melancholia, at this year's festival.  The official trailer for the film launched this morning, and it doesn't look like they were bullshitting about the 'beautiful' part.

Melancholia looks to be an amalgamation of drama and science fiction, focusing on the relationship between two sisters at a wedding, with the backdrop of a planet threatening to collide with Earth.  Sounds interesting, to say the least.  Von Trier has a successful history of using very personal events to make a statement on the macro workings of society (for example, Dogma re: xenophobia, Antichrist re: gender and sexuality), but here it looks like he might be doing the exact opposite.

The film reunites von Trier with Charlotte Gainsbourg (who starred in Antichrist and - deservedly - took home the Best Actress award at Cannes for her work), and also stars Kirsten Dunst and Kiefer Sutherland.  No release date yet, but we'll keep you updated.  In the meantime, check out the official website.