Antichrist: Mixed Bag, But Much That is Remarkable

Lars von Trier is a true artist. By this I mean he commits 1000% to whichever artistic viewpoint is captivating him at the time. All that matters is staying true to the art. He doesn't care if no one will like it. He doesn't care if everyone will say it's terrible or politically suspect. He doesn't cater to anyone. He caters only to the art. This artistic courage is deeply inspiring. At a time when all we seem to have in the 21st century is entertainers catering to the tastes of audiences and critics, it's a great joy to see a work of art from the ferociously uncompromising Lars von Trier.

This, however, is not to say that von Trier is a great artist. I actually don't think he is great. But give me a full-bore but flawed artist any day over a sycophantic entertainer.

"Antichrist" is a difficult movie to watch, particularly in its second half, where it to some degree comes off the rails and becomes an explosion of sexual grisliness, including a scene where the main character cuts off her own clitoris -- in close-up. I also hope never again to see an erect penis ejaculating blood. But the film is also fascinating, gripping and unforgettable. Its first half particularly I think needs to be studied and reflected upon for its frightening depiction of nature as a seething, breathing organism built to crush and destroy. You've never seen the woods come to life (or death?) like this.

There are only three characters in the film: a wife (Charlotte Gainsbourg), a husband (Willem Dafoe), and their toddler. She is a historian researching the suppression of "witchcraft" in early modern Europe and likes to spend time at a cabin in the deep woods. There are no roads leading to this place, which she calls Eden. You must hike through miles of wilderness to get there. He is a rigorously theoretical psychoanalyst.

They are both struggling to deal with grief after a terrible tragedy strikes their family. But her grief starts to turn into something like schizophrenia. She becomes particularly terrified of Eden. Her therapist husband insists that they go to Eden so she can confront and overcome her anxiety. What this has to do with her grief is not initially clear.

Almost immediately upon arriving, the ultra-rational husband begins having strange dreams, including one sequence where he hears a human voice coming through in a fox's bark. You may have heard this derisively referred to as the "talking fox" scene. But it's not quite as silly as it sounds. First of all, it's clearly a dream sequence, and secondly the fox is not depicted as talking. He's barking like a normal fox, but the husband hears a human voice inside the bark. In this and other dreams, the man starts to feel that some kind of message is being transmitted to him -- or he is gaining some new form of consciousness about nature.

Before he has a chance to digest this, he starts learning things about his wife that indicate she might have had a role in the tragedy. Is she grieving or stricken with guilt? That's when the film starts to spin out of control. Not only is the grisly pornography unnecessary and over the top, the suggestions that females are the special conduits through which Satan enters the world (all of them witches!) is beyond laughable.

Still, "Antichrist" is an authentic and frequently fascinating work of art that demands to be seen by genuine artists the world over. Just don't see it on a full stomach.