Antichrist (2009)
Antichrist(DAN) Directed by Lars Von Trier Written by Lars Von Trier Starring Willem Dafoe; Charlotte Gainsborough; Storm Acheche Sahlstrohm
Antichrist provoked extremes in terms of audience reaction when it debuted at Cannes, response that included booing and walking out of the theater, although conversely Charlotte Gainsborough won the festival’s best actress award. Shot by Brit Anthony Dod Mantle (Slumdog Millionaire; Millions; Dogville), the cinematography is nothing short of incredible. Hand held scenes are juxtaposed with sections of exquisite, lyrical beauty. Gone are the severe, self-imposed technical limitations instituted by one of the founding members of Dogma 95. Von Trier (who’s beset with a host of fears and anxieties) reportedly wrote the screenplay in response to one of his severe bouts of depression. Broken into chapters, the finished product is constructed as if it were allegory, although the symbolism is perhaps too random and ultimately abstract to actually pin down and make complete sense of. Von Trier, who began making English language films in the mid-90s, has since set most of his efforts in the U.S. (though, with his fear of flying, he hasn’t even visited this country). Nominally based in Seattle (though shot in Germany), this is essentially a two hander about an unnamed couple, He (Willem Dafoe) and She (Charlotte Gainsborough), who lose their young son Nic (Storm Acheche Sahlstrohm) in a tragic accident while engaged in the throes of passionate sex (a blended sequence artistically shot in super slo motion to a Handel aria). She suffers a nervous breakdown, but after her month long hospital stay, therapist He is convinced he can treat his wife’s all encompassing depression himself. The two repair to their isolated cabin in the woods (an area that feels like the Dis-enchanted Forest) to confront her fears. Influenced by Swedish dramatist Strindberg, Von Trier is a Brechtian storyteller, and Antichristis clearly intended as a take on Gothic horror with a wink (i.e. a fox speaking the words “chaos reigns”). How then are we supposed to digest the philosophy espoused by She proclaiming women evil by nature? The mutilation of genitalia? The graphic sex scenes (porn actors were employed for closeups)? The ironically (?) named woods, Eden? How too can one accurately describe the film as a whole? Disturbing; brutal; visually compelling; depressing; frightening; bravely, powerfully, and physically acted; shocking? It could also, in the same breath, be deemed messy; absurdly self-indulgent; wildly misogynistic; and perhaps even, pointless. Von Trier has long been criticized for his anti-Americanism and misogyny. Unlike a film like Dogville, his ongoing indictment of the U.S. isn’t overtly stated, though there is enough disparagement of the female race to more than make up for it. Von Trier continues to challenge the film viewing public with work that defies the formal boundaries of the medium. Whether his verdant, mad concoctions are entirely premediated or not; the work of an artist in search of pure expression or product from a provocateur of the highest order (or something in between), his defiance of convention stretches the limits of narrative film, pushing audience and filmmakers alike in this increasingly barren cinematic landscape. Never a bad thing.