Antichrist

Colour, 35 mm
Denmark, Germany, France, Sweden, Italy, Poland, 2009, 104 min
Section: Open Eyes

Synopsis

The Man (Willem Dafoe) and the Woman (Charlotte Gainsbourg) are passionately making love. The camera slides over them, savouring their rapt sex in black-and-white images. At the same time, we follow the steps of a child as it gazes excitedly at the falling snow outside an open window. The viewer senses how this scene will end; the tragedy, which could easily have been averted, will naturally change the lives of the Man and Woman forever. The Woman breaks down, the Man tries to save their marriage and ease their suffering. He proposes that, as some kind of joint therapy, they take refuge in a log cabin in the middle of a forest which, to the viewer’s surprise, might have come out of someone’s worst nightmare, which is what the couple’s stay in the cabin becomes. What was to have been their "paradise” transforms into hell on Earth. All too vivid natural scenery and perverse psychology play a major role in this bizarre experiment – will the Man and Woman return as a couple, or as separate individuals? Will they come back at all? One of the most controversial movies at this year’s Cannes IFF brought Charlotte Gainsbourg the award for Best Actress.

About the director

Lars von Trier (1956, Copenhagen) graduated from the Danish Film School in 1983 and then made advertising spots. He immediately gained recognition with his first film The Element of Crime (Forbrydelsens element, 1984 – Technical Grand Prize at the Cannes IFF). He then shot the dramas Epidemic (1987) and Europa (1991 – Special Jury Prize at the Cannes IFF), followed by a film made in the spirit of the Dogma 95 manifesto, The Idiots (Idioterne, 1998), the melodrama Breaking the Waves (1996 – Grand Prix at the Cannes IFF; EFA Award for Best European Film), the anti-musical Dancer in the Dark (2000 – Cannes Palme d’Or), the first two parts of an incomplete trilogy Dogville (2003) and Manderlay (2005), and The Boss of It All (2006). He also experiments with television (Medea, 1988;  "The Kingdom”, 1994 and 1997). He is co-founder of the production company Zentropa.