Antichrist: "Chaos reigns" (Antichrist (DVD))

Member Name: joncarey9

Product:	Antichrist (DVD)
Date:	20/09/09 (184 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great depth to plot, wonderful acting

Disadvantages: The extreme violence will put people off

My knowledge of Lars von Trier as a film director is pretty basic. I have only previously seen one of his films, 1998's The Idiots, a highly controversial piece dealing with disability and sexuality, which whilst had its moments, wasn't actually that good a film. I think it's fair to say that von Trier is a director who thrives of controversy; he seems to do things with the attention of provoking and causing a reaction. He's not a sensationalist one-trick pony though; he is without question a talented director who truly understands cinematography. It's just that his films content and subject matter often get him pigeon holed as something that he is not.

It's difficult to put Antichrist into one genre, its content is certainly horrific, buts it's not in any way little a traditional horror film. At times it is very "Art House" with its shooting style, but all in all it does best just too just call it a drama! And there's definitely lots of that. The film is set out in six parts, a Prologue, an Epilogue, and four chapters in the middle which relate specifically to the journey the characters are going through, entitled Grief, Pain (Chaos Reigns), Despair (Gynocide) and The Three Beggars.

Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg play characters known throughout only as "He" and "She", which have to come to terms with the death of their son. Simply put that's the outline of the plot, it's a story about Grief, Pain and Despair just like the chapter titles suggest. Dafoe is a therapist and Gainsbourg's character is a non-specific academic who is currently writing a thesis on the subject of gynocide, the systematic killing of females through history. He takes her on as his patient and they decide that what they must do is return to Eden, a wooden shack in the middle of the woods, where she spent time with the child before his death. During their time in Eden Gainsbourg's emotions spiral out of control and she becomes convinced that everything in this world is evil, including to some extent womankind.

Von Trier has not so much made a film about violence, but a film made to inflict violence upon us. Yes it is pretty horrific to watch, but I'll come to that more later. Antichrist is a great film which is so much more that just mindless violence there to gage a reaction. He takes all the best things from horror films, the genre conventions from films like Evil Dead and Cabin Fever, the torture aspects from the so called torture-porn films, but he makes them actually mean something. He plays with these conventions and does it rather well, managing successfully to build an uncanny eerie atmosphere which you're actually convinced by.

Antichrist is a very deep film, it's riddled with subtitle messages and not so subtitle visuals which work together to give depth and meaning to the film. There's strong symbolism throughout, in particularly the Three Beggars, a star constellation which come alive and act as guides to the characters. Each of the three animals He encounters is symbolic of the chapter it's in. The deer is Grief, the fox is Pain, and the crow is Despair. They come together to represent the whole mourning process, the emotions the characters are experiencing after the loss of their son.

There's no right or wrong answer with Antichrist, it's a film which leaves a lot of interpretation up to you and is quite reluctant at times to give you clues as to what certain scenes mean. After one watch I don't really understand the Epilogue section, but hopefully like all great films Antichrist will be one which gets better and reveals a little more with every viewing.

What exactly is Antichrist about is a question which you will be left asking yourself, but not in a bad way, and will ultimately lead to more questions. Antichrist is a thinking person's movie, a rich visual experience which expects you to put a bit of effort in yourself. Is von Trier saying that all men are born evil, guilty instead of innocent? Or the complete opposite! It is women that are of sin. Is it a film symbolising men's fear of women's sexuality? Are human beings dependant and thus scared of nature? These are all questions which might cross your mind, and the correct answer is all of these are correct yet all are also incorrect, there's not a correct answer, it's all down to your interpretation.

The acting is superb, Defoe and Gainsbourg really give it their all and nail their performances, seeing as the whole film is just those two (except a few scenes with their toddler son) they do extremely well. The sound design was very effective and the visuals are entrancing and complement it perfectly. I loved the opening prologue in particular; von Trier's black and white sequence of passion and embrace was brilliantly done and really lays down a great foundation for the characters and following story.

So far in my review I have pretty much glanced over the more horrific scenes in Antichrist, but it's probably best that I point out that this is a difficult watch at times and not one for the squeamish. The film has split opinions where ever it has been shown, it seems you either see it as the great interesting piece of work that it is, or get to hung up on the graphic violence and sexuality, which you can't deny are a massive part of it. Just search for Antichrist on the Daily Mail website if you want to see what a certain section of society thinks of it, or at least thinks we should think of it. It's such a shame that this is being given the same knee jerk reaction as so many slightly controversial things in recent years; it frustrates me so much when I see articles telling you how terrible and evil something is when the truth is they probably haven't even seen it themselves! We're all individuals and thus should be able to watch something and form our own opinions without being told a film should be banned.

I'm not going to argue that the films content isn't extremely graphic, but for me personally I found it a bit tame after all the ridiculous hype it had been getting. If the words and phrases genital mutilation and masturbation make you come over all a quiver though it's probably best you don't watch Antichrist.

Antichrist is a film which will split audiences, but I personally thought it was fantastic. Not an out and out masterpiece but an interesting and thought provoking piece of work which will stick with you. Despite what people may tell you the violence and sex whilst graphic is definitely necessary, it's so key to the story. If you can handle a bit of blood go and see Antichrist I'm sure it won't disappoint you, even if at times it's a little strange it's never dull. Don't go into it thinking it will be a straight up horror film though; it's so much more than that.

Main cast;
Willem Dafoe as He
Charlotte Gainsbourg as She

Director: Lars von Trier
Producer: Meta Louise Foldager
Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle
Release Date: 24th July 2009 (UK)
Running time: 109 minutes
Language: English

Antichrist is being shown at select cinemas and will be available on Blu Ray and DVD on 23rd November 2009.

Summary: A great thought-provoking film