ANTICHRIST (includes trailer)
May 16th 2010 13:51
Antichrist - A film by Lars Von Trier
Dark days have descended upon Screen Adventure during this fortnight, with it’s current focus on Danish cinema. Before we jump into the frying pan that is Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist, I will say this - Cinema is without a doubt the most powerful medium in existence, if history has taught us anything, it’s clear that it can be used for evil purposes i.e. Triumph Of The Will and also beautiful examples of the restorative power of film i.e. Bicycle Thief or Umberto D., which were responsible, in part, for emotionally restoring Italy after the war. At it’s purest, cinema is the most over powering form of art and communication. When a film maker comes along, however, and is able to make something so disturbing and traumatic for viewers, a film maker who, perhaps more than any one else, has mastered the craft of emotionally and psychologically engaging his audience, it begs the question, how do we as humans, handle an experience that is more over powering, on every single level, than we can stand, particularly one that appears to be made not even to just frighten us, but to induce a fear trance of pain and hatred in us, from an expert hand of a clearly disturbed but also extremely gifted and unique artist.
This concept is at the core of what made Antichrist such a controversial film when it was released last year. When I was at the Cannes Festival in 2009, I heard horror stories of what the film’s scenes contained from the press. I personally saw a woman unconscious, being taken out of the theatre by paramedics, at Antichrist’s official premiere. While I am probably not as sensitive as some other viewers are I can confirm that the hype was not over stated. The are moments in Antichrist which caused me to go cold, moments that made me dizzy headed and even a brief moment where I wondered if I was going to throw up. Antichrist’s writer/director Lars von Trier generally strikes me as a disturbed, immature individual, based on his other films I’ve seen, but he proves in Antichrist that he possibly posses an understanding and mastery over the craft of film making more than anyone else ever has.
Antichrist is a troubling experience to say the least, right from the opening title it’s clear that Von Trier is intending to abuse you in this film. It may be malicious, but the film is so well made that it sort of leaves you speechless as you brace up for this literal descent into hell. What immediately struck me about Antichrist is that it lacks all the qualities that made other Von Trier films so maddening to watch for me. It’s devoid of the stuffy intellectualism and over thinking of his previous films like Breaking The Waves and Dogville, which at their worst have contradicted themselves into corners. Unlike his film’s The Idiots or Dancer In The Dark, he isn’t trying so hard to provoke you, Antichrist is so overpowering that it doesn’t need to try and for most of the time I was completely unaware of any kind of narrative manipulation.
Antichrist tells the story of a man and his wife who lose their infant in a tragic accident. These two character’s played by Willem Dafoe (Platoon, Wild At Heart, To Live and Die in L.A.) and Charlotte Gainsbourg (The Science Of Sleep, 21 Grams, I’m Not There), who remain unnamed, representing a generic married couple. The husband is a therapist who takes it upon himself to guide his wife, therapeutically, through her grief and torment. The two head out the woods as a part of her therapy, where this already overpowering story goes from intense to horrifyingly warped....oh and apparently 'nature turns evil on them' too, which never makes matters any easier.
Antichrist is set up in chapters, in typical Von Trier style. It’s epilogue and prologue are shot and edited in a way that is so pompous and pretentious that it becomes silly, but for some reason these beginning and end book mark scenes seem to fit in okay, in the scheme of things. The body of Antichrist is unsettling and overwhelming through out, taking your psychological and visceral reactions to unimaginable and sometimes unbearable heights. It may be negative and completely hateful what begins to unfold, and extreme of course but it’s clear that Von Trier is a master and this is him at his most terrifying. Antichrist is never really scary as much as it is unbelievably disturbing, although it does pull of a horror technique or two with a god-like hand. I’ve never been the biggest fan of this art house writer/director’s sensibilities and I can’t say I am here either, but Antichrist is simply amazing in what it is able to do to it’s audience and how devastatingly consistent it is. Certain critics have described it’s scenes of violence and sickening torture as what they call ‘torture porn’, a term used to describe films that are all gore. Antichrist never uses this as a means to an end, it simply is a by product of the hysteria that it produces.
The chaptered structure of Antichrist is used to, as far as I can tell, bridge the holes in the character arc’s. Some of the pain that bleeds out from this slice of hell doesn’t always add up, but this is where Antichrist's most impressive quality comes into play, it doesn’t need to make sense, it attacks you in such an emotional and psychological place that your logic during this experience is completely disengaged, an experience I’ve never had before in the cinema.
Not only is Antichrist probably the most controversial film of the last ten or twenty years but also the most divided film audiences have found themselves recently. In the wake of Antichrist’s cocktail of spiritual destruction, leaving most audiences shaken and not stirred, people have either called it abominable or brilliant, with no adjectives to be found in between. Antichrist’s intentions and message is troublesome indeed, I don’t stand by Von Trier in what he says just in how well he says it through his directing. I also take my hat off to these two actors. Charlotte Gainsbourg is incredible, ranking in my top 3 or 4 female performances I’ve ever seen and Willem Dafoe’s performance is some of his best acting in a very long time. Very few actors would have the balls to even attempt pulling something like this off. Another impressive quality of Antichrist is the cinematography by Anthony Dod Mantle (Last King Of Scotland, Slumdog Millionaire, 28 Days Later…), it’s absolutely stunning, perfect in every way, with it’s hand held darkly, troubled yet beautiful imagery.
Antichrist is also eccentric as all hell, with some truly oddball touches found through out the journey, including a talking fox, which utters out the words, “Chaos reigns”, which is meant express Willem Dafoe’s character’s distorted view on who knows what. Antichrist employs a couple of scenes that accelerate it’s unsettling feel, including subliminal images which are surprisingly effective and a one particular scene involving a sound that Charlotte Gainsbourg is hearing in her head and can’t find the source of, which intensifies your discomfort as this sound gets under you skin and makes it truly crawl. This all makes you aware of much trickery von Trier has mastered in his arsenal of craftsmanship.
Antichrist is most disturbing, it makes sure it disturbs in every way it can. If you have any medical conditions, that are ongoing which affect you psychologically, or even a heart condition, I would suggest you stay away from Antichrist. If you want to see how far you can be pushed by a film then maybe give Antichrist a watch.
If history is kind to Antichrist and Lars Von Trier, it could possibly be remembered as having the same madness that one of Art’s many other geniuses were afflicted by. The same insanity that has produced a few of the greatest works of art through out history, forcing us to expand the spectrum of what we can absorb as people. Vilify me for saying this, but I believe that the very thing that makes Antichrist such a horrifying experience is the same thing that makes it a masterpiece. Antichrist is brilliant
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Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
The movie was a little over-hyped for me when I saw it at Popcorn Taxi before its Sydney release. The interview via Skype with Lars following the screening was interesting to say the least. He wanted to make something that would shock his dead mother.
I still think Breaking the Waves is a more powerful movie, both emotionally and artistically. I do really appreciate Antichrist for its unbridled abstract experssionism. Some truly stunning images.
As for most controversial movie of all time? I think Pasolini's Salo probably still sits firmly on that mantle. Certainly Antichrist gets kudos for being such an uncompromising and difficult art-house movie seen by such a wide audience.
I reviewed it HERE
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
I still haven't seen this yet so I only read the final paragraph of your review....which left me wanting more.
Will return once i have screened Antichrist.
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure