Photo Credit: The Film Society of Lincoln Center/IFC Films
The overwhelming lesson that we’re supposed to take from Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist is simple: chaos rains. It rains on a tin roof, it rains acorns on Willem Dafoe, it rains until it pours so much bitter resentment and anger at the state of how man treats nature that the only way to continue living is simply be consumed by it.
Though, we’re getting too far ahead of ourselves. This is the film, after all, that prompted one of the more infamous 2009 Cannes press conferences and proved why we like Von Trier. In fact, as spectacle, Antichrist fails. Built up for months as the most visceral and disturbing films that any audience could see, it feels more like that first AM screening at Cannes will be the only people who feel that way.
Broken into sections, we’re introduced to He (Willem Dafoe) and She (Charlotte Gainsbourg) in poetic slow-motion fucking. The use of that term is intentional, since Von Trier clearly wants a reaction from on-screen penetration and tangled bodies. From the shower to the bed, beads of water crawl and their son Nic (Storm Acheche Sahlstrøm) move towards their inevitable climax–again, forever tarnished by that first AM screening at Cannes, since this is a film about grief. From there, He and She do their best to overcome the grief, as He feels confident in diagnosing his wife’s problems.
Yet She can’t cope and inevitably, He realizes they must retreat to their cabin, “Eden,” for her to recover. While Von Trier made his annoyance with his own symbolism known, thus we begin the crawl to the violence that reportedly had people vomiting at Toronto and fainting at Cannes. There is something here with Von Trier’s inevitable reveal that nature is evil and women are the most evil creatures because men force them this way, but it gets kicked up into the extreme with special guest appearances from The Woodland Christmas Critters.
Visually, Von Trier is on. The use of rain and nature to convey this hell on Earth is perfect, and no one is more willing to get up close than he is when it comes to making people suffer. The message feels redundant by the end, even with repetition of “The Three Beggers,” which He notes, “that isn’t even a real constellation!”
Definitely worth seeing, but as to whether or not this is a comedy or a Trash Humpers-esque “film as fast as I can and plot be damned,” that’s entirely up to you. Just bring an umbrella.
Antichrist plays tonight at 9 pm and tomorrow [10/3] at 1 pm as part of the New York Film Festival. It will be released as Video-on-Demand on 10/21 and in limited theatrical on 10/23 by IFC Films.
-John Lichman
October 2nd, 2009 at 9:17 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by mario at current and john lichman. john lichman said: Antichrist reviewed http://su.pr/26yA0p [...]
October 2nd, 2009 at 4:58 pm
[...] Additionally, John finally screens Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist, the film that compelled Cannes audiences to collectively question, “Why?” Additionally, Von Trier went on record with this film, proclaim that “I am the best filmmaker in the world.” Check out John’s review here. [...]
October 20th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
[...] I am still of the opinion that chaos must reign. [...]