Antichrist

Antichrist

Denmark, Germany. 2009.

In English.

Directed by Lars von Trier     

Starring Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg

            Dearest Scarers, I am not a fan of winter. I’d much prefer the scorching heat of a thousand impfires to the chill of suffocating iciness. This year, winter looks especially bleak with the prophesied promise of the end of times now only weeks away. What can we do but padlock ourselves in our rooms and hope for a quick end, if one must come at all? Maybe we can get a few more movies in, too…

            I’d like to put away the dark and drear, but Antichrist, like our weather, offers nary an ort from the table of warmth and hope. The film follows a simply named couple, He and She, as they navigate the turbulent waters that follow the accidental death of their son and She’s subsequent emotional breakdown. They decide to spend time in their cabin in the woods to recuperate, but one of them may be much more mentally disturbed than the other realizes.

            Antichrist is very visually stylized, with rich colors and almost fairy-tale settings. Indeed, fantastical elements creep into the sidelines of the movie throughout as the plot unravels. Thematically, the movie also deals with the nature of evil: it originates in women. Wait, what? Yes, this movie comes off as violently sexist, not an uncommon criticism in many of von Trier’s works (unless you’re into that).

As things progress, the movie becomes more and more unsettling and at times difficult to watch. I give it a 4/5 on the scare-o-meter (“Holy cannoli, that’s scary!”) and a 4/5 on the gore-o-meter (“Ok, I actually feel kinda sick”). Along with being emotionally intense, the ending is quite graphic, with numerous vicious attacks to…let’s just say, sensitive body parts. The surrealistic aspects of the film are bewildering and off-putting, and will contribute to your unease as a viewer. Do I recommend it? Wholeheartedly, for those very reasons!

Stay Scary (and warm),

            AC