Here’s my quick review of Lars von Trier’s Antichrist, just out on DVD, from the latest jmag. Warning: the following fails to grasp the whole ‘authorial intent is meaningless’ thing that’s hammered into every first year arts student.
ANTICHRIST
Directed by: Lars von Trier
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg
Country: USA / Denmark
After watching Antichrist, all I wanted to do was get Lars von Trier drunk and ask him: “Really?”
He has Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg give incredibly raw, honest performances as a couple dealing with the death of their young child; but he puts them in a film so over-the-top it often seems like a Flying High-style parody of art cinema. And that’s before a talking fox arrives to announce that “chaos reigns!”If you were too squeamish to see Antichrist on the big screen, don’t worry. Once things turn violent, it’s still not that bad – well, except for the bit with scissors, anyway. (Shudder.) It’s just the way he’s mixed violence with explicit sex that makes it shocking.
Antichrist is full of beautiful, nightmarish imagery: you could freeze it at random and create a perfect oil painting. Sometimes the movie seems like it’s inching close to saying something profound… only to run away giggling again.
So, Lars: should we take this psychodrama seriously? And how about that drink?
Other reviews this month: Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, Hillcoat’s The Road – more on that here – and Final Destination 3D.
Issue #36 on sale now.
#1 by Leanne on February 11th, 2010
This makes me feel better about my decision to avoid Antichrist; a decision made made mostly on the basis of the scissor scene. I got my Willem Dafoe fix in villainous rat form instead.
#2 by Martyn on February 11th, 2010
There’s a Willem Dafoe out there for all of us, Leanne! And yes, I’m pretty immune to horror, but I happily (and barely) watched the scissor scene from behind my fingers. I think I made the right decision.