Few films in recent history have so polarized public opinion as Lars Von Trier’s latest venture, a masterwork of psychological horror entitled Antichrist. When it premiered at Cannes this summer, it was met with equal amounts of zealous praise and derisive boos, both winning critical acclaim and eliciting fervent protest.
Antichrist is surely not for everyone; even usual fans of the genre. Laden with overwhelmingly graphic violence and disquietingly misogynistic overtones, this stylized phantasmagoria is unabashedly designed to shock its audience. But the film is so elegantly unnerving that you just can’t take your eyes off the screen.
From the opening prologue, Von Trier weaves a visually stunning portrait of carnal lust and simultaneous tragedy. A therapist (Willem Dafoe) and his wife (Charlotte Gainsbourg) make furious love, as their infant son jumps out an open window to his death over a heart-wrenching Italian aria. The dazzling cinematography in this scene alone is worth the trip to the theatre. Von Trier demonstrates his technical dexterity and expertise, utilizing innovative camera angles and continuously adjusting the lens focus in monochrome to create a luscious ethereality.
The film soon spirals into a feverish nightmare, dark yet entrancing, as “She” plummets into the depths of grief and anxiety. Forcing her to confront her illogical fear of the woods (specifically a forest called Eden, which makes explicit the Biblical allegory) “He” relocates them to an isolated cabin. As the couple attempts to find peace, hiking through ominous verdure, they are met with disturbing manifestations of a pervasive evil that encapsulates the terrain. Foreboding sounds, something like the crushing boom of an aircraft overhead, build tension as He discovers three bestial ambassadors — a doe whose stillborn fawn dangles from its orifice, a fox eviscerating itself underneath a fern canopy, and buried crow who springs to life — signaling the impending doom. Racked with guilt, and an irrational conviction that the female sex is inherently evil, She slips into savage hysteria, enacting perhaps the most gruesome self-mutilation in cinematic history.
Many are up in arms about the message this film insinuates, but Von Trier’s opus is nothing more than an ornate reiteration of centuries-old tale. Those who shy away from discomfort should avoid it, but Antichrist is a harrowing and awe-inspiring experience not to be missed by moviegoers seeking to imbibe some intoxicatingly powerful emotions.
4 stars Directed by: Lars von Trier Starring: Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg 109 min.
