Antichrist (2009)

I've been meaning to watch more Lars von Trier films ever since I watched and loved Nymphomaniac. But he is not the easiest director to watch, so I kept putting them off until now, as I decided to watch horror movies for 31 days straight and I picked Antichrist. 

The movie tells the story of a couple who has just lost their child. After the funeral, She (Charlotte Gainsbourg) falls into the depression hole and He (Willem Dafoe), a therapist), tries to help her by figuring out what her fear is.  To do this, they head off to their cabin in the woods. Once there, however, her mental state rapidly deteriorates. 

The story, which is divided into six chapters --a Prologue, Grief, Pain, Despair, The Three Beggars, and an Epilogue--, gets more and more intense and disturbing as it develops to the point of becoming unbearable. 

Antichrist's is a story that explores the human process of coping with trauma and loss; it portrays the human nature and condition, specifically the feminine condition. And this is where I had a huge problem with von Trier's movie. Women are portrayed as evil, the incarnation of the devil. I agree that we often forget that, just like men, women too are capable of doing horrific things --just think of mothers killing their own kids-- but this feels like a movie made by someone and for people who hate and fear women.

At least the characters, which are only two, He and She, are pretty solid. Although they seem unrealistic and little believable and their actions are often bizarre, they are interesting and have such an emotional depth that they effortlessly carry the film. The performances from Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg are both very compelling. While Dafoe gives a calm and composed performance, Gainsbourg's is intense, painful, and devastating.

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Visually, Antichrist is quite stunning. The opening sequence, the prologue, is nothing short of spectacular with its black and white cinematography, the fantastic camera work, and the slow-motion. The music opera music that accompanies the tragedy, the intensity of it. It's a pure work of art, easily one of the best openings I've ever seen. The rest of the film, well, it's not so beautiful. The camera work is still impressive, and the slow-motion is still wonderfully used, but there are too many disturbing images to consider the rest of the film visually beautiful --there's no beauty in a penis, Dafoe's character but probably, certainly a body double's, ejaculating blood nor in Gainsbourg's character cutting off her clitoris. If anything, they are unforgettable.

I also had another issue with Antichrist. It's hard, if not impossible, to categorize the film. Is it a horror? Or is a psychological drama? I guess a bit of both as von Trier himself said he wanted to make a horror but ended up making something else. Anyway, the sense of dread that builds throughout the film, the brutality, the physical and sexual violence, they sure make for an extremely unsettling film.