At this week’s Rose Café, my GRF, Sara Schlemm, spoke about melancholy in art and literature. One of the literary artworks we discussed was Vertigo (1958), a four-fold movie about obsession, manipulation, fear, and melancholy. We watched a couple scenes from the piece, and it’s easy to say I know what movie I’m watching this weekend!

While discussing melancholy, especially in regards to this movie, I realized that the state of being can be equal parts eerie and beautiful. Before this Rose Café, I always equated melancholy to sadness, and now I understand that melancholy is something much deeper. Something that really stuck to me was the history of the idea of melancholy. It’s suggests the state has always been present in the earth, and that melancholy appears in prolonged cycles- much like the four seasons. (Fun fact, melancholy is associated with the season autumn).

I definitely look forward to looking more into melancholy, watching Vertigo in full, and I thank you Sara for such a great Rose Café!