Evils of Representation: Werewolves, Pessimism, and Realism in Europa and Melancholia

Lars von Trier’s films have continuously explored the problem of evil. In this essay, focused on Europa and Melancholia, I argue that his response to this problem and his cinematic style have evolved along with his views on representation. Once committed to the rejection of all cinematic illusion, his later films make use of it, not because he has changed his mind about the dangers of illusion but because he has come to view an unnatural perspective as something necessary to reveal an evil to which we are ordinarily blind. I call this later style pessimistic realism.