Director: Lars von Trier
Starring: Charlotte Gainsbourg & Willem Dafoe
Featuring disturbing subject matter and shocking violence, Antichrist is a difficult film to like and one that will engage and repel audiences in equal measure but whose themes will linger in the mind long after the end credits.
Lars von Trier is no stranger to controversy, shunning Hollywood and the conventions of western cinema; von Trier has always pushed to explore the boundaries of cinema or lack thereof. Having launched the Dogme movement, von Trier has often been at the head of the Art house film industry but his latest film, Antichrist, is likely his most shocking and controversial film to date offending even the critics when the film saw its debut at Cannes. Featuring explicit sex and acts of violence of a sexual nature it is the violence that has garnered more attention and anger than the film’s story which delves into themes of misogyny.
Whilst distracted during the act of lovemaking, He (Dafoe) and She (Gainsbourg) lose their infant son who climbs up to the window and falls to his death. Stricken with grief He, a psychiatrist, decides to treat his own wife’s severe grief taking her to a cabin in the woods where She feels uneasy following a summer spent there earlier where She dealt with research into Gynocide (the systematic slaughter of women). During their time in the woods, He is confronted with omens of death and disturbing insights into his wife’s psyche while She proceeds to become more unstable with her guilt and grief manifesting in violence.
Antichrist will likely offend many audiences through the acts of on screen violence alone and the acts of violence themselves are shot in a gratuitous manner and are certainly shocking due to sexual nature of the violence (challenging even the most hardened of audiences). However, as shocking and repellent that the acts of violence may be they do contribute to the overall mood and themes of the film. It is the film’s mood and themes that disturb and engage the most in Antichrist. The behaviour that She exhibits, the acts of violence and grief she commits and the reasons for why She does them are what linger in the mind after the film has ended. In an interesting attempt at manipulation, von Trier makes both He and She potential victims and villains and who is really to blame for what occurs will be subject to some debate afterwards. The approach though is interesting and certainly effective in the building of dread and fear towards a climax that feels more inevitable as the film progresses. Beautifully shot with stunning cinematography, the woods themselves become another character within the film representing nature as an almost conscious being influencing and being influenced by He and She. While certain scenes may seem comical in their approach (the opening prologue evoking feelings of European Beer Commercials in its black and white, slow motion depiction of sex and a talking fox in one sequence risking laughter if not for the mood of the scenes around it), many succeed in disturbing and/or angering the audience and whether the film is confronting misogyny or is merely misogynistic itself will also be left for audiences to debate. No doubt, von Trier has created a film in Antichrist that will be discussed and further cement his status as the bad boy of Independent Film.
The performances in Antichrist are centred around just He and She. Gainsbourg’s She delivers the most memorable performance, one that challenges he ability due to the nature of the acts and emotions her character experiences and the performance is impressive though more so in the first half while her character’s grief resembles a kind more recognisable to audiences where her later behaviour is suitably hysterical. Dafoe however delivers an interesting performance too with his character’s natural detachment from emotion being somewhat frustrating early on making him more unsympathetic but seeing his detachment challenged more and more as the film progresses. Defoe’s is the more subtle performance and one as good as Gainsbourg’s though will likely be overlooked.
Overall, Antichrist is not a film to be loved or even liked. Its violence is perhaps more extreme than it needs to be and perhaps there for shock value in its portrayal, but the film’s mood, its themes of violence, grief and misogyny the subjects that will provoke the most debate afterwards and make the film one that lingers in the mind far more than the violence itself. Antichrist is not for the squeamish or the easily offended but is certainly a film that will challenge its audience and not be forgotten.
Rating: 4/5
