Written by: PBF
The title of this film coupled with my categorization of "horror" might throw you off a bit. Those two words in reference to a film may conjure up images of really horrible acting and demons killing priests or something. You will not find that here. This, in fact, is probably not comparable to any other film you have seen.
Here is the basic plot of Antichrist, as there is a lot going on. A married couple, whose names are never revealed, are making passionate love, when their young son Nic, falls out of a window to his death. The wife, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg, is incredibly grief stricken, and spends a month in the hospital. Her husband, played by Willem Dafoe, is a therapist and decides that she is not getting the help she needs and takes her home and makes her his "patient." She acts out violently through sex, is generally inconsolable and has sudden attacks of anxiety. Her husband decides that she must face fear and be exposed to it directly and asks her what place frightens her the most. She tells him the woods that surrounds Eden, their cabin. She spent the previous summer there writing a thesis about Gynocide, touching on the theory that women are inherently evil. We learn that she originally rejected this theory, but later came to subscribe to it. At the cabin, the husband administers psychotherapy to the wife, through various exercises. Their stay at the cabin becomes increasingly bizarre (perhaps more for us than them, as I seemed more puzzled than they did) and the wife's condition turns into something that may be more deep than severe depression. This film was written and directed by Lars von Trier.
I will tell you that I probably did not understand the "point" that this film was trying to make, if indeed it was trying to make a specific one. The film is beautifully shot; almost every scene a work of art. Both Defoe and Gainsborug are superb, and other than their child at the beginning (and other blurred faced characters) they are the only ones in the film. The film is segmented by a Prologue, 4 chapters: Grief, Pain, Despair and the Three Beggars (referring to an animal in each of the previous 3 chapters: a deer, a fox and a raven, in that order), and then an Epilogue. The Prologue is quite a wonderfully shot opening. Black and white slow motion against what I believe is a Handel aria. Shower water and snow are shown in individual drops and flakes. The Epilogue is also shot in black and white and uses the same music. The tagline of this movie, as well as several other sources that reference it state that nature, the entity (or Satan's church as the wife calls it), turns "evil" which I hesitate to tell you, as I fear you may then flashback to The Happening, which is pain that I do not wish to inflict on even my enemies (I have no enemies). Also, I may have to disagree with that. I feel like it may be suggested that nature has something to do with the wife's behavior, in the sense that there is a belief that women are inherently evil. But I don't think there was any strong emphasis placed on nature being the "villain" in the film. Regardless, there were several instances of sudden breeze, very much like that piece of shit Shayamalan film, but instead of people freezing and killing themselves or each other, one of the Three Beggars presents themself, and in the case of the Fox, exclaims, "Chaos reigns." The shock referenced in the title that appears when you hover the pointer over the poster in this post, stems from the violent sex and masturbation scenes that occur regularly in this film. The horror, from scenes such as the one involving a hole being drilled in to a leg and a grindstone being attached to it. There really is not that much gore at all, rather violence that (mostly) isn't directly shown on camera. I will tell you, however, there is one scene in which a particularly brutal act occurs off camera, but was still wildly uncomfortable. Whatever the cause, the depiction of the wife's migration from grief to "evil" is fascinating to watch, due to Gainsbourg's performance. Defoe, while great, pretty much remains the same intrigued husband slash psychoanalyst determined to fix his patient until the very end.
This movie may give you a lot of things to figure out, and a shit load of religious references to figure out the symbolism of, but I honestly don't think all of it has any deeper meaning. And in fact, I as I recall the movie while writing this, you may not even find it that shocking. It certainly ignores any formula or "rules" that other movies employ, so in that respect it is shocking. von Trier does basically whatever he wants, but it fits within the context of the film. I will recommend it to folks who want to see something that strays from the norm, and even call it "good" in that capacity. I certainly do not think it was bad, but it is not something to just sit down and watch to kill time. Dedicate the entire 108 minutes to this film, with no distractions.',
The title of this film coupled with my categorization of "horror" might throw you off a bit. Those two words in reference to a film may conjure up images of really horrible acting and demons killing priests or something. You will not find that here. This, in fact, is probably not comparable to any other film you have seen.
Here is the basic plot of Antichrist, as there is a lot going on. A married couple, whose names are never revealed, are making passionate love, when their young son Nic, falls out of a window to his death. The wife, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg, is incredibly grief stricken, and spends a month in the hospital. Her husband, played by Willem Dafoe, is a therapist and decides that she is not getting the help she needs and takes her home and makes her his "patient." She acts out violently through sex, is generally inconsolable and has sudden attacks of anxiety. Her husband decides that she must face fear and be exposed to it directly and asks her what place frightens her the most. She tells him the woods that surrounds Eden, their cabin. She spent the previous summer there writing a thesis about Gynocide, touching on the theory that women are inherently evil. We learn that she originally rejected this theory, but later came to subscribe to it. At the cabin, the husband administers psychotherapy to the wife, through various exercises. Their stay at the cabin becomes increasingly bizarre (perhaps more for us than them, as I seemed more puzzled than they did) and the wife's condition turns into something that may be more deep than severe depression. This film was written and directed by Lars von Trier.
I will tell you that I probably did not understand the "point" that this film was trying to make, if indeed it was trying to make a specific one. The film is beautifully shot; almost every scene a work of art. Both Defoe and Gainsborug are superb, and other than their child at the beginning (and other blurred faced characters) they are the only ones in the film. The film is segmented by a Prologue, 4 chapters: Grief, Pain, Despair and the Three Beggars (referring to an animal in each of the previous 3 chapters: a deer, a fox and a raven, in that order), and then an Epilogue. The Prologue is quite a wonderfully shot opening. Black and white slow motion against what I believe is a Handel aria. Shower water and snow are shown in individual drops and flakes. The Epilogue is also shot in black and white and uses the same music. The tagline of this movie, as well as several other sources that reference it state that nature, the entity (or Satan's church as the wife calls it), turns "evil" which I hesitate to tell you, as I fear you may then flashback to The Happening, which is pain that I do not wish to inflict on even my enemies (I have no enemies). Also, I may have to disagree with that. I feel like it may be suggested that nature has something to do with the wife's behavior, in the sense that there is a belief that women are inherently evil. But I don't think there was any strong emphasis placed on nature being the "villain" in the film. Regardless, there were several instances of sudden breeze, very much like that piece of shit Shayamalan film, but instead of people freezing and killing themselves or each other, one of the Three Beggars presents themself, and in the case of the Fox, exclaims, "Chaos reigns." The shock referenced in the title that appears when you hover the pointer over the poster in this post, stems from the violent sex and masturbation scenes that occur regularly in this film. The horror, from scenes such as the one involving a hole being drilled in to a leg and a grindstone being attached to it. There really is not that much gore at all, rather violence that (mostly) isn't directly shown on camera. I will tell you, however, there is one scene in which a particularly brutal act occurs off camera, but was still wildly uncomfortable. Whatever the cause, the depiction of the wife's migration from grief to "evil" is fascinating to watch, due to Gainsbourg's performance. Defoe, while great, pretty much remains the same intrigued husband slash psychoanalyst determined to fix his patient until the very end.
This movie may give you a lot of things to figure out, and a shit load of religious references to figure out the symbolism of, but I honestly don't think all of it has any deeper meaning. And in fact, I as I recall the movie while writing this, you may not even find it that shocking. It certainly ignores any formula or "rules" that other movies employ, so in that respect it is shocking. von Trier does basically whatever he wants, but it fits within the context of the film. I will recommend it to folks who want to see something that strays from the norm, and even call it "good" in that capacity. I certainly do not think it was bad, but it is not something to just sit down and watch to kill time. Dedicate the entire 108 minutes to this film, with no distractions.',
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