Antichrist

Review

Writing about ANTICHRIST is almost as intimidating as the anticipation of seeing the film. Lars von Trier’s latest, that I caught at the New York Film Festival, definitely has made a lot of people talk. People vomited, walked out, passed out and loved this film. It is clear that ANTICHRIST is a film that you just can’t keep quiet about.

Shot by a long-time collaborator, Anthony Dod Mantle (he also lit SLUMDOG MILLIONARE), ANTICHRIST looks wonderful. I was plenty surprised, pleasantly I may add, when I learned that most of the film was shot in HD on the RED camera. The over-saturated, at times romantic and dreamy atmosphere that Dod Mantle created for the film works well with the nightmarish quality of the narrative.
A lot of people have heard of the film, but plenty still don’t quite know what it’s about: A couple, acted brilliantly by Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsborough, deals with grief after they lost their son. Dafoe is a therapist and Gainsborough has a weird grief pattern that is making her really, really upset. In an attempt to help his spiraling wife, Dafoe takes her to Eden (a forest, where they usually spend their summers). Things get worse very quickly after that. Agoraphobia goes on overdrive as the forest and the animals in Eden actively try to fuck with Dafoe.The couple eventually turns against each other. Genitals get mutilated. Blood. Sex.

A talking wolf whispers “Chaos reigns.”

In a Vanity Fair review, Lars von Trier admits that ANTICHRIST is a selfish endeavor. That he never considered how the audience would react to the film, and that ultimately the purpose of the film was to help himself cope with depression. After the screening that I attended, Dafoe also confirmed this during the Q&A.

The idea that women are evil and the sloppy use Christian imagery in the film definitely give you some insight to Von Trier as a person. Not to mention that the violent, tragic turn that the film takes is reminiscent of his older works (DOGVILLE comes to mind).

ANTICHRIST is the second film I’ve seen this year that in one way or another references Tarkovsky, in style and thematic approach. It may be a bit more gruesome and violent than Kanji Nakajima’s THE CLONE RETURNS, but ANTICHRIST is also a movie that explores the relationship of human beings and their souls. Just think of Dafoe and Gainsborough as the two opposing sides in Von Trier’s mind, the id and the super-ego, both trying to maintain stability, but failing.

Originally written for IN*TANDEM Magazine.