Antichrist (netflix instant)
Year: 2009
Director: Lars von Trier
Starring: Willem Dafoe (“he”) and Charlotte Gainsbourg (“she”)
I thought the film had a simple enough plot when I first read about it: a married couple dealing with the recent loss of their young child. But the film is much deeper than that. But I think it’s really up to the viewer to accept that there are themes here. Some, many, may just see this is as a film showcasing violence, smut and some major “WTF” make your skin crawl moments that would leave the Saw series in tears begging for the film to stop, while others will look at a more ‘artistic’ approach. So, what is it? Smutty violent nonsense or incredibly deep and darkly poetic? Um… I think deep and darkly poetic, but it took awhile to get there.
The film is really a tale of two halves. The first half is much slower paced. Learning a bit about these people and their troubled marriage and that “he” (Dafoe) - seriously they don’t have names, is a therapist, and that’s incredibly clear as he tries to help his wife get over the grief of their terrible tragedy. Of course everyone grieves in their own ways, and the film shows how different he and she deal with the situation. and how bad grief can push a person.
The second half is where the madness and wildness is on full display. For hearing rumblings about how freaky and brutal the film is in certain areas, I was a tad confused and thought I was watching the wrong movie. But nope, this was it. Just takes awhile to get going. But once it does it comes in waves and while there are only 6-7
MAJOR “WTF?!” moments that don’t last too long. They leave a much longer impression mentally than the scenes themselves. I could have done without some of the scenes being so vivid, I’m a big fan of “less is more” and I think Trier could have displayed this in a “less is more” way and have us understand exactly what’s happening, so be forewarned, are some scenes a bit “holy moly!” in nature? Yes. But they don’t stay for too long. Thankfully.
But I must say, for those who dislike animals in any sort of harm or danger, there are 3-4 scenes in Antichrist that have moments like this. Does this piss me off? Yeah. Because at least 2 of them seemed completely pointless. And I’ve stumbled across like 5 films in the last week or so that have this. I’ve got bad luck I guess. I didn’t downgrade the film however for having something I don’t like seeing, just stating for those who are in the same boat as me, you’ve been warned.
For the longest time I was gonna give Antichrist 2.5/5. I just didn’t get it
and while I still don’t “get it” I think, completely (I have a ton of questions for tbizzle, surf and others who’ve seen it although if I didn’t get answers that’d be okay too) the last 40 minutes for as “whoa” as they are, really change the pace and “feel” of the film. And they are completely worth it and make the slower first hour much more satisfying when bananas really start to hit the fan (or acorns hit the roof
).
Individual merits for the film are all getting high praise from me.
Directing? I thought it was great. The first 10 minutes really had me hooked, and while after that I kind of fell “out” of the film, the directing was top notch and in the wrong hands this could have been a mess.
Cinematography? Awesome. Some very haunting, eerie images / feel. Not of the brutality, but of the woods, the fog, the cabin… it’s great stuff. Most full blown horror movies don’t get this right and drench the film in darkness. Not Antichrist. Very haunting feel. Loved it.
The performances. Dafoe was pretty good. I’m not a huge fan of him in anything he does. He seems to play the same role in everything I’ve seen him in, but good to great at times none the less. but man, Charlotte Gainsbourg was a beast here
When she flips a switch halfway through the film, you really can sense that. Visually in her expressions, in her voice, her actions (of course) and just overall demeanor. If she doesn’t at least get nominated for some awards for “best female performance” that would be a crime imo. Honestly, as far as “women who portray a side of psychosis” Gainsbourg has to be in the discussion for top 5 and maybe even #1.
That all being said, this will more than likely (if I were to give percentages, I’d say 75/25) be a one time watch and be added to my “one and done” collection. Although, since for some reason, for as bizarre and wacky as the last 40+ minutes were, part of me thinks I may watch it again down the line (long, long, long down the line) which is odd. I also wasn’t exactly clear on the themes the film was presenting. The main one was obviously grief and dealing with grief and getting past it, but the whole
[Show spoiler]“beating women” deal and the devil
kind of went right over my head
and the last image of
[Show spoiler]all the women (I think all were women) walking around the mountain…?
What did that mean? and how did it connect with the rest of the film? Maybe I missed some dialogue that explained this? I know
[Show spoiler]she was doing a thesis on it and there were pictures of women tied up during middle ages and whatnot,
but the lines did not connect for me there.
I’m surprised I’m rating it as highly as I do, but I’m gonna go with a 3.5/5. It may be bumped up once I understand what exactly some of the other themes were, and I still thought the first hour was a little slow and I was even bored at times, but some individual merits need to be recognized, so that added a point or so to the total and I’m not going to downgrade a well made film just because I didn’t personally like it or find it something I would want in my collection. There are hundreds of worse films, it’s just a matter of taste preference and how far you’re willing to give a film to tell you a story.
I don’t know if I would recommend it, per se, but for someone in to dark dramas that are able to look past what some might see as some unnecessary brutal moments, it can’t hurt to rent it / netflix it. Just be warned it isn’t as hardcore / brutal / gross as some make it out to be, but there are some moments I’m sure some won’t want to stomach or even hear about.
3.5/5
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i can come up with some wacky theory on Mulholland Dr. but i can't see that Freeman 
or something like that i think 
)
i could definitely see the early workings of his more "complex" (in terms of amount of characters) films Boogie Nights and Magnolia at work here. great stuff 
i'm usually the same way, but it was a work phone call which i have to take. i literally have a separate cell phone for "emergencies" and that went off so i knew i had to stop and watch. and then the gf was getting food or something so i had time to pop on here and see what was happening.
so she tries to text, go on her laptop or do other stuff when watching movies. drives me nuts. she's gotten better though, but when we first started watching movies together i couldn't watch anything i wanted to that i hadn't already seen because she's wrecked the "movie viewing atmosphere" 
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