Abstract: Made up of still shots screened in slow motion and renewing pre-existing works of art, Melancholia’s prologue (Von Trier, 2011) is composed of living-paintings. In a psychiatric meaning, melancholy arises from the ideo-motor slowdown of the individual who dwells on the past. This paper offers an analysis of this scene in order to question the melancholic aspect of its living-paintings, according to three elements : the slowdown pictures, the pervasive past, the illustration of the four elements.
