Kirsten Dunst at the Cannes Film Festival. Sitting next to Lars von Trier, during the press conference for their film, “Melancholia,” was a study in self-containment, the ability to listen, and struggling not to react—the work of a truly disciplined performer. As her director unravelled under the uneasy pressure of success—Dunst would go on to win the Best Actress award for the film—the lovely young actor managed to do what so few performers can ever manage in life: listen without the hope that there’s a camera on the other end of your sentence. Her work during the press conference—and it was work—showed what self-possession looks like, and how it will, hopefully, add glory to her future work.
