“Nature is Satan's church.”
-She (Charlotte Gainsbourg)

Over on the Internet Movie Database, someone once described Lars Von Trier as, and I quote, ‘an arty wanker’.
Now, although that is perhaps the most unsophisticated and rudimentary way of expressing it, they did have a point. It isn’t hard to see why Trier could be considered pretentious, especially with his most controversial outing yet, Antichrist.

To say it is unforgettable is a gross understatement. Rather, for better or worse, it sears itself into your subconscious, tapping its way into your most deep seated fears. It is a film that will astonish and infuriate in equal measure, a film that cannot be simply watched, but felt. The exact emotions felt will differ…

One of the things that has stuck with me the most from my time spent in therapy, as I'm sure it has for many who have seen a therapist, is that many of the traits of obsessive thinking, personality disorders or even psychological deviance are almost impossible to distinguish from universal expressions of our needs and desires. The feeling of deep connection with another person that we call our soulmate is a perfectly healthy and normal experience, for instance, but the partners of people with BPD often feel a soulmate connection very deeply, even if it's not the product of an honest relationship but their partner's subtle, even unconscious emotional manipulation. Everyone needs somebody, and that's okay, except when it's…

‘Antichrist’ is high art filmmaking employing the conventions of horror through a narrative of a prologue, four chapters and an epilogue. The film is a subversive study of despair and violence that displays some genuinely disturbing scenes yet some eye wateringly beautiful moments as well with director Lars Von Trier detailing with profound provocation the dark side of human emotions captured elegantly by Anthony Dod Mantle’s exquisite Red One cinematography.

A couple played by Willem Defoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg retreat to a cabin in the woods after the loss of their child. The man starts to experience strange visions and the woman develops increasingly violent sexual behavior towards him.

The prologue introduces us to the nameless leads the only two…

Van plat over vulgair tot een film die het filmlexicon van de 21ste eeuw herdefineert. Wederom sloeg de Deense enfant terrible Lars Von Trier erin om voor enige opschudding te zorgen tijdens het voorbije filmfestival van Cannes. Met AntiCrist, levert de excentrieke Deen opnieuw een film af die heel wat heilige huisjes omver blaast en die opnieuw -volledig conform zijn voltallige oeuvre- zijn publiek in radicale kampen zal verdelen. Buiten kijf staat alvast dat geen enkele film dit jaar de tongen even vaak over de tong zal gaan als Von Triers jongste.

Na de eerste tweel delen in zijn USA-trilogie en de experimentele komedie Direktøren for det hele keert de regisseur terug naar een ietwat meer conventionele vorm van filmmaken.…

‘Antichrist’ is high art filmmaking employing the conventions of horror through a narrative of a prologue, four chapters and an epilogue. The film is a subversive study of despair and violence that displays some genuinely disturbing scenes yet some eye wateringly beautiful moments as well with director Lars Von Trier detailing with profound provocation the dark side of human emotions captured elegantly by Anthony Dod Mantle’s exquisite Red One cinematography.

A couple played by Willem Defoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg retreat to a cabin in the woods after the loss of their child. The man starts to experience strange visions and the woman develops increasingly violent sexual behavior towards him.

The prologue introduces us to the nameless leads the only two…

Review from my VOD column "This Week on Demand"

With Nymphomaniac drawing closer, excitement is beginning to rise as to what transgression we can expect this time from premiere provocateur Lars von Trier. We might gather some idea from Antichrist, the graphic sexual and violent scenes of which attracted as much controversy as they did acclaim on the film’s 2009 release. For all the extremities in which von Trier indulges, however, it is, at heart, a powerful meditation on grief, its story that of a married couple who retreat to a cabin in the woods in the wake of their young child’s death. Working within the framework of horror conventions, von Trier elicits extraordinary performances from Willem Dafoe and Charlotte…

In presenting such a radical and polarizing title, Lars Von Triers asks the central questions: Where does evil come from, and is man an inherently evil species.

Antichrist does not mean the “opposite” of Christ (defined as grace or goodness in this context), but opposed to. Of course it’s a fine line, and “opposed” can have several interpretations, just as this film, a two person play of sorts, can leave you arguing about not only who is “good” and who “opposes good”, but the aforementioned central question.

As I mentioned, this is a two person drama (with the exception of animals – one who speaks two prophetic words; and an infant who only appears in the film’s prologue). Interestingly, the…

Wait....what....what's....going...o-...OOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY OOOOHHHHHHHH NOOOOOO!!!!!!

I literally yelled this at the screen at a certain point in the film (if you saw the film you could probably guess the scene) for about 2 minutes. My inability to suck it up aside, I really, really enjoyed this film. This is my first Von Trier film and though I've often heard him being called a pretentious little twat I couldn't help being completely fascinated for the entire running time. It takes on it's themes entirely head on with very strong and defined symbolism. The cinematography was a mix of gorgeous very stylized scenes of horror mixed with over the shoulder, almost improvised camera work that surprisingly won me over in the end.…