They want to know why these high-profile artistes wanted to go there. On the other hand, others will have their interest piqued, and not out of some grotesque penchant for suffering on screen. Those moments are the reason people proudly declare “I’m never watching that!” when the movie is brought up in passing. The unsettling acts that are on display in the movie are among the first things that people spoil when they discuss it. That conflicted response is exactly what von Trier was going for, as far as I can tell: a cinematic expression of his battle with crippling depression and anxiety. The intertwining of all those things makes it impossible for me to say that I have anything resembling affection for it, since it’s like Antichrist reached right into my guts and twirled them up on a fork, then proceeding to do the same to my brains. At the same time, it is arresting, sympathetic, and beautiful. Our own Devin Faraci said in his review that “It’s disorienting and it’s difficult and it feels kind of brilliant.”įor me, the movie is perplexing, brutal, irrational, and repulsive. I was also partial to Jeffrey Wells’ similarly-themed ” Antichrist =Fartbomb” headline. Reactions at the Cannes Film Festival premiere ranged from thoughtful, considered praise from people like Roger Ebert to a swath of eviscerating pans, most notably Todd McCarthy’s declaration in Variety that “Lars von Trier cuts a big fat art-film fart with Antichrist”.
Lars von Trier ( Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark) directs. They retreat to their cabin in the woods (at a place called Eden), and chaos proceeds to reign. Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg play a husband and wife coping with the death of their child.