The troubles of a grieving married couple (Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg) soon grow exponentially worse when they travel out to a cabin in the woods in order for the wife to overcome her fear of nature. The fear that she has, in fact, causes her physical pain and as a result her end of the grieving process has been a lot more troublesome, coupled with the fact that she blames herself for the death of their newborn baby who accidentally kills himself in the opening of the film. The wife had taken their baby up to the same cabin prior to the accident in order to write a thesis on historical atrocities. The husband, naturally, understands that her connection with these woods is what intensifies her guilt and therefore challenges her to confront her fears. However, things start going wrong. After several grotesque warnings from their woodland surroundings and an even more terrible revelation involving the circumstances surrounding their child's death, it becomes clearer and clearer that there is a deep seated evil that lingers even deeper than the woods. Bloodshed, sexual mutilation, and terrible pain and agony ensue.
The film was met with more jeers than most films in Cannes film history, and it was even the recipient of the first ever Anti-award for it's extreme themes and images of what most people would call pure misogyny. It also won Charlotte Gainsbourg a lot of acclaim, and she received the best actress award. One thing is for sure, her performance here is about as good as any female performance I have seen this decade. Her performance has already become the stuff of legend, and I can MOST DEFINITELY see why. I can see why her performance gets hailed alongside performances such as Isabelle Huppert in the rather quietly ferocious The Piano Teacher (2001) and Isabelle Adjani in the deeply deeply disturbing Possession (1981). Here, Charlotte Gainsbourg reaches the same level of genuine bodily horror, physical exertion, fearless emotion, and breathtaking beauty. It is one of the most unpleasant female performances I've ever seen and I almost hated parts of it due to how shattering her emotional impact was. I think that's how the horror of this film works the most.
Looking at the film itself, is it a misogynist picture? Definitely. That's not to say that Lars Von Trier is a misogynist, but it's easy to see why based alone on the female character in his own The Element of Crime. Here we have Antichrist, and this film is misogynist for completely different reasons. Antichrist may be a horror film, but above all it is an exploration of misogyny and the use of misogyny as an art form above all. When looking at the film in this way, there are a lot of things that make more sense. Von Trier has some incredibly fascinating ideas about guilt and how guilt can be used as a weapon against the people who you love (or in some cases who you pretend to love), but upon deeper thought the circumstances surrounding the grotesque series of events in the last act of the film seem a lot more simple. People force themselves to believe in good and evil, the film appears to be saying, but looking at the world in such a black and white way can cloud our judgment and make things complicated when the actual explanation is a whole lot more simple.
Antichrist is a combination of both of Von Trier's styles. His stylized and visually provocative style used in The Element of Crime, Europa/Zentropa, and The Kingdom, and his raw, horrific, and personal approach used in Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, and Dogville. Above all of that, I see Antichrist as a faerie tale in the style of the Brothers Grimm. It has the talking animal, the colorful setting, the dark tone, and the idea of something from the past coming back to bite you in the ass. When I looked at Antichrist as that, I found it to be an almost enjoyable descent into psychological madness and the destruction of togetherness amongst two beings who want nothing in life other than for one half to complete the other and likewise. It is heartbreaking, yes, but there is a lesson to be learned.
So despite personal feelings toward Von Trier's approach to the nature of evil, I found Antichrist to be an effectively scary, beautifully made little film with a lot to offer the cinematically adventurous and even more for those seeking a challenge within their own personal beliefs about misogyny in film. Above all, however, if one is to view this film they need to be able to want to be challenged and they need to be willing to be frustrated if the film is going to allow it's emotions and it's humanity shine through. I haven't talked about the sexual content of the film because I'm not even sure what to think. I will say that I do find a couple of scenes to be a little too gratuitous, but I think that it's a very creepy and very haunting little film. Is it my favorite film of Von Trier's? No way. I will say though that in terms of challenging cinema and challenging images, it succeeds in spades. I think it's a brilliant return to form in the vein of unfiltered and stylized filmmaking, and I cannot wait to see what Von Trier is planning on making with his next film.
The film was met with more jeers than most films in Cannes film history, and it was even the recipient of the first ever Anti-award for it's extreme themes and images of what most people would call pure misogyny. It also won Charlotte Gainsbourg a lot of acclaim, and she received the best actress award. One thing is for sure, her performance here is about as good as any female performance I have seen this decade. Her performance has already become the stuff of legend, and I can MOST DEFINITELY see why. I can see why her performance gets hailed alongside performances such as Isabelle Huppert in the rather quietly ferocious The Piano Teacher (2001) and Isabelle Adjani in the deeply deeply disturbing Possession (1981). Here, Charlotte Gainsbourg reaches the same level of genuine bodily horror, physical exertion, fearless emotion, and breathtaking beauty. It is one of the most unpleasant female performances I've ever seen and I almost hated parts of it due to how shattering her emotional impact was. I think that's how the horror of this film works the most.
Looking at the film itself, is it a misogynist picture? Definitely. That's not to say that Lars Von Trier is a misogynist, but it's easy to see why based alone on the female character in his own The Element of Crime. Here we have Antichrist, and this film is misogynist for completely different reasons. Antichrist may be a horror film, but above all it is an exploration of misogyny and the use of misogyny as an art form above all. When looking at the film in this way, there are a lot of things that make more sense. Von Trier has some incredibly fascinating ideas about guilt and how guilt can be used as a weapon against the people who you love (or in some cases who you pretend to love), but upon deeper thought the circumstances surrounding the grotesque series of events in the last act of the film seem a lot more simple. People force themselves to believe in good and evil, the film appears to be saying, but looking at the world in such a black and white way can cloud our judgment and make things complicated when the actual explanation is a whole lot more simple.
Antichrist is a combination of both of Von Trier's styles. His stylized and visually provocative style used in The Element of Crime, Europa/Zentropa, and The Kingdom, and his raw, horrific, and personal approach used in Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, and Dogville. Above all of that, I see Antichrist as a faerie tale in the style of the Brothers Grimm. It has the talking animal, the colorful setting, the dark tone, and the idea of something from the past coming back to bite you in the ass. When I looked at Antichrist as that, I found it to be an almost enjoyable descent into psychological madness and the destruction of togetherness amongst two beings who want nothing in life other than for one half to complete the other and likewise. It is heartbreaking, yes, but there is a lesson to be learned.
So despite personal feelings toward Von Trier's approach to the nature of evil, I found Antichrist to be an effectively scary, beautifully made little film with a lot to offer the cinematically adventurous and even more for those seeking a challenge within their own personal beliefs about misogyny in film. Above all, however, if one is to view this film they need to be able to want to be challenged and they need to be willing to be frustrated if the film is going to allow it's emotions and it's humanity shine through. I haven't talked about the sexual content of the film because I'm not even sure what to think. I will say that I do find a couple of scenes to be a little too gratuitous, but I think that it's a very creepy and very haunting little film. Is it my favorite film of Von Trier's? No way. I will say though that in terms of challenging cinema and challenging images, it succeeds in spades. I think it's a brilliant return to form in the vein of unfiltered and stylized filmmaking, and I cannot wait to see what Von Trier is planning on making with his next film.