After three years of silence, Lars von Trier has finally decided to go back on record to say that almost all of his films have been written on a high of alcohol and drugs. Now sober, the director doubts that he can create anything of value.
This sunday Trier has been sober for 90 days, and has been to his Alcoholics Anonymous meeting every day. And although he doesn't recommend alcohol or drugs to anyone, he does not regret having used them in his creative process.
Lars von Trier’s films have been created in a state of intoxication. While writing his manuscripts he has put himself in a special state by drinking a bottle of vodka a day and taking ‘a drug’, he says, saying that this has been his way of entering a ‘parallel world’ – a special state in which ideas develop.
Now that he’s sober, Lars von Trier’s afraid that he has run dry as an artist and can only make ‘shitty films’.
“I don’t know if I can make more films, and that worries me,” the director says in his first interview since he muzzled himself following the controversy following the scandalous press meeting in Cannes in 2011, in which he said he understood Adolf Hitler.
Man vs. The Director
He is in a state in which he is choosing between Lars Trier the man and Lars von Trier the director – and, as he says, ‘Lars Trier has prime place’ right now. Now, it’s just a question of staying alive by avoiding intoxicants. As a result he doesn’t believe that he is able to continue to maintain the artistic level that he demands of his films.
Or, as he says: “There is no creative expression of artistic value that has ever been produced by ex-drunkards and ex-drug addicts.”
Obviously, the parallel world has its price, but I got an enormous amount out of it. Just like all the artists I have respected the most
The manuscript for his ‘Dogville’ film was written during a 12-day high. His latest film ‘Nymphomaniac’ is the only one that has been written while sober – and it took him 18 months.
Von Trier: Who the Hell Cares about Rolling Stones without Booze and Jimi Hendrix without Heroin?
Sober for 90 days
But sunday Trier has been sober for 90 days, and has been to his Alcoholics Anonymous meeting every day. And although he doesn’t recommend alcohol or drugs to anyone, he does not regret having used them in his creative process.
“Obviously, the parallel world has its price, but I got an enormous amount out of it. Just like all the artists I have respected the most. They have also wallowed in all sorts of mind-expanding drugs,” von Trier says. While he says that his long silence has been a relief, he now feels the need to speak out in various fora.
“I have reached an age,” he says, “at which one would like to hand something on.”
As far as his film Nymphomaniac is concerned, von Trier has not previously said anything about it in public. He now says that the five-and-a-half hour, highly erotic film was not meant to be a study in female sexuality, but rather a tease for Zentropa Director Peter Aalbęk, and a wish to make a film with a lot of digressions into the things in life that he loves most.
that is an interesting read. I find it easier to power through illustration when music is playing through my headphones, on the other hand, I've thrashed that so much it affects my hearing so I limit my use..and have noted what was missing when I was drawing, a portion of heart and the fun of living the worlds created.. haha, thankfully always sober lol.
Von Trier say stuff like this all the time, that's not to say it isn't true, but I'm certain a large amount will be hyperbole. He's a guy with no other interests other than pushing buttons.
Von Trier say stuff like this all the time, that's not to say it isn't true, but I'm certain a large amount will be hyperbole. He's a guy with no other interests other than pushing buttons.
Yeah, I often take what he says with a grain of salt. A new film topic in the waiting perhaps?
More from the more lengthy interview, which only some was available in English (as translated and interpreted by Indie Wire).
Quote:
He's afraid his sobriety will result in shitty movies.
Without the drugs, von Trier fears he won't be able to create films of the same creative quality. "I thought it would provide a revelation, but it hasn't," he said. "It's a retirement job, because you don't commit one hundred percent to what you do...It's going downhill. It can only be crap." Growing older, he said, artists usually become more intelligent, but lack courage and emotion. His worst fear is making "old man films," that are "jolly and devotional with a happy ending" and a repeat of his old tricks for a wider audience, like Bergman did with "Fanny and Alexander," which von Trier described as "pure speculation."
This is, however, not the first time von Trier has declared his own film career to be over. In the aftermath of the harsh critical response to "The Boss of it All" in 2006, he developed severe depression, causing him to express similar doubts about his future as a filmmaker. Instead, he channeled his depressive thoughts into "Antichrist" and "Melancholia." "Argh, I say that all the time. Pathetic!" said von Trier when Politiken's journalist Nils Thorsen reminded him of his prior statements. And when pressured, von Trier moderated his wording from "I don't know if I can make anymore films" to "I probably will make films."
The press conference in Cannes was a bad idea.
The press conference for "Melancholia" in Cannes in 2011 was the first one he ever did while sober, which he regrets. "I was too friendly, because I was sober, so I hesitated and didn't complete my points," he said. At the conference, he got lost in an argument about being a Nazi and understanding Hitler. What he meant to say was that he discovered at the age of 33 that his father, who was half Jewish, wasn't his biological father. That was another man of German descent. Additionally, having just watched "Der Untergang," he was fascinated by Hitler. And while he stresses that he doesn't sympathize with Hitler's vision, he understands his cynicism and grandiosity. "I feel the same way as an employer when I'm cynical towards my actors to make them perform," he said. His aesthetic fascination with the Nazi architect Albert Speer was understood by a lot of the journalists present, said von Trier, which is why they didn't ask further. "But I could have used the question: 'What do you really mean?'" he added. "Then everything would have fallen into place."
He was very afraid of going to prison.
"I didn't feel good about the prospect of five years in prison in Marseille." The case escalated, and von Trier became persona non grata at Cannes. The following October, he was questioned by Danish police, on the request of the French authorities, who charged him for violating a French law against justification of war crimes. That's when it really stopped being funny for him. "I didn't feel good about the prospect of five years in prison in Marseille," he said. "I would be near dead after three or four days." That's when he took a vow of silence. "Due to these serious accusations I have realized that I do not possess the skills to express myself unequivocally and I have therefore decided from this day forth to refrain from all public statements and interviews," he said in what would be his last public statement -- until now.
He wants to continue saying the wrong things.
Von Trier said that it's been "wonderful to shut up," since he was always asked the same questions. But now he's ready to engage with the public again. "It's humiliating not to have a voice. I bloody want to be allowed to talk like everybody else and mess up and say the wrong thing," he said. Now, he wants to "present the circumstances around my artistic expression."
His digressions were essential to "Nymphomaniac."
It wasn't the exploration of female sexuality that inspired von Trier to make the sexual odyssey "Nymphomaniac." It was the digressive structure found in literature, which he had recently taken up again. "I just wanted to make a film consisting of all the things I appreciate. So I collected all sorts of things I like and know something about and put it into a porn film," he said. "I like that you're at the mercy of the director and don't know where you're going. You just decide that fly-fishing is interesting. And almost everything you dive into becomes exciting. Digressions are wonderful." He also brought up some examples from his film. "I like that you go into things about helicopters, and I don't know what, because Seligman happens to just have read a book about something. Idiot," he said. "In practical terms, it was an advantage that Seligman could interrupt Joe's story and say, 'Now, now! That sounds unlikely.' And she could answer: 'Who tells the story, you or me?' That's something you as a director would like to say to the audience if they believe the film is unrealistic."
But of course, he's interested in female sexuality.
The story about the nymphomaniac Joe had to subject itself to everything else, he said, reluctant to place any more meaning into it. "But of course I was curious about the female sex life in all its aspects," he added. "And that's probably…fair enough."
He can't decide if TV is too populist.
For his next project, von Trier is considering a TV show called "The House That Jack Built." The house is pretty, but that's about it. "It's a house that Jack built, but Jack isn't there, he said. "Like when the soup is left warm on the table. I imagine making it a meta-series, which also has a story about me directing some occasionally recalcitrant actors...But I can't figure out if it's too populist, when everyone else is making TV shows."
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Lars von Trier Speaks! First interview in 3 yrs...fears he he can't make films sober.
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