Antichrist Review- by Michael Carlisle

 Title: Antichrist
Year: 2009
Director: Lars Von Trier
Country: Denmark
Language: English

Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist is definitely in the running for the most controversial film of the 21^st Century. Von trier, known for his dark and rather depressing film has topped himself through this film, what else could you expect from a film called Antichrist? This film is not for the weak of heart yet should not be judged on the images alone. The conflict in this film is not supernatural, but it is within the minds of the two main characters, known only as “he” and “she”.  It is about two people who lose all common sense and moral values, it is about people who become the embodiment of evil. It is about the nature of grief, and how horribly life can get if grief is not dealt with appropriately.

He  is played by Willem Dafoe (Last Temptation of Christ), She is played by Charlotte Gainsbourg (Melancholia).  Their problem is established during the prologue, perhaps the most well made and edited scene in all of Von Trier’s films, when He and She are distracted passionately making love while their infant son crawls out of his crab, walks towards and open window and falls to his death.  This moment is their fall from grace. She becomes engulfed in guilt because of this incident and falls into a depression so bad that she needs to be hospitalized. He insists that she leave the hospital and he cure her himself, he is full of the sin of pride. She is full of the sin of despair.  The film has three stages: Grief, Pain and Despair.

Grief is the first stage of this film, it is perhaps the most medically accurate of the three stages. He and She attempt  to help themselves get through their loss instead of accepting it and moving on. They punish themselves for having sex while their infant was on the verge of death. She, like many victims of grief, mentally harms herself. He detaches himself from this problem, he is no longer the father who lost his son but his wife’s psychologist. Her problems with grief is something that he has to deal with. He inflicts psychological harm to her by exposing her deepest self issues at a time when it is not necessary. Willem Dafoe was once being tormented by evil self doubting voices in Martin Scorsese’s  The Last Temptation  of Christ, now he has become the evil voice.

All this psychological pain He inflicts on She leads to the second chapter: Pain. This chapter is a critic’s feast as it is the most controversial part of the film. They arrive at their cabin named Eden in a remote forest  habited by normal looking creatures, such as a deer and a fox , that are quite unusual and possessed. The fox tears himself apart saying “chaos reigns”. Indeed chaos does reign in this chapter, as does it reign when grief isn’t taken care of properly. Here we go from mental violence to shocking and explicit physical violence. The rage built inside She from her grief reaches its boiling point and she snaps. 

Is this “torture porn?” Is this merely Von Trier’s attempt to be  shocking? I feel, though the violence goes a bit too far, it certainly is within reason. Sex destroyed their lives, sex killed their only child. In order for her pain to stop, perhaps she needs to rid of anything that reminds her of this day. Still I feel “pain” is not as intelligently made as “grief”. Still I find it very hard to watch the film all the way through because of this “pain” chapter.

Not all movies can ignore Mr. Potter

Von Trier has made a very honest film with Antichrist, writing this film when he was in an incredible state of depression and not sure if he would ever make a film again. It reflected his own feelings towards mankind as he believed that it was capable of doing great harm towards one another. Antichrist seems like a perfect title for this film as Von Trier’s own thoughts were Anti-Christ, anti-love. As much as we would like to see a film about  a couple comforting each other over the loss of a child, we must not ignore the reality that not all couples will do that. A few couples will be like the main characters in this film and harm each other until there is nothing to harm. Our world is full of great hope and great despair, most films show us only great hope. I feel that it is helpful to show a film of great despair, because only when we face evil head on can we overcome it.

In conclusion, I feel Antichrist will be loved and hated because of the violence in this film. I’ve heard many people tell others to watch the film because of its graphic nature, I’ve heard others dismiss the film because of the same reason. While I am not impressed with the violence in this film and while I do think it can take away from the intelligent observations on grief, I don’t think this film should be judged based on the violence.  Watch the film because it contains a very thoughtful investigation into the nature of grief and how things can go wrong if grief isn’t treated properly. 3.5/5