Recent Release Reviewed: Antichrist

Antichrist
Starring: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Willem Dafoe
Written and directed by: Lars von Trier

"A crying woman is a scheming woman"

Don't watch this if you're squeamish, or if graphic gore and/or nudity upsets you. There, that's done.

Antichrist certainly kicked up a lot of controversy when it was released at Cannes. Critics were subjected to a film that was not only deeply unsettling, but apparently misogynistic and featuring graphic scenes of genital mutilation. When one particularly self-righteous journalist from The Daily Mail demanded that von Trier justify himself, von Trier told him that he didn't have to. He told the assembled critics that they were his guests, and that he was the greatest filmmaker alive.

What is most surprising to me is that any of the Cannes critics were surprised that they were offended. When a filmmaker as controversial as Lars von Trier says that he's made what he called a pornographic horror film, anyone who has heard of even one of his films braces themselves. This is the man whose most mainstream films are Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, and Dogville, three incredibly emotionally bruising works. And he says he's made a horror film? I saw Antichrist expecting to be shocked and upset, and I was not disappointed in that regard.

The film starts with a strikingly shot black-and-white slow-motion sex scene between He and She. As they make love, their young son gets out of his cot and falls through the open kitchen window to the street below. Hysterical with grief, She is hospitalised and medicated. He, a therapist, is convinced that he knows what is best for her and decides that she needs to face her darkest fears. He establishes that she is most afraid of Eden, the forest where they own a cabin. The two of them trek up there, as He makes her confront the things that she is afraid of. However, all is not right at Eden. He begins to realise that he has made a terrible mistake, and that She is not getting better.

First things first, Antichrist unsettled me deeply. It's horrifying, troubling and upsetting. There's been some lively critical debate as to whether the whole thing is just a big joke, with Mark Kermode in particular believing that von Trier is giggling behind each frame. Well, that may be the case. It's always difficult to gauge what he's up to, but I found the film to be an almost entirely successful horror film. It's adult, it takes its time, and I can't think of many films that present such horrific situations without a single note of humour. That said, there are moments where it's almost a little to ridiculous. Shortly after arriving, Dafoe sees a deer with a miscarriage hanging from its haunches. Disgusting and unnerving yes, but that's got nothing on the fox gnawing at its own entrails that looks up and tells Dafoe that "Chaos reigns". It's ridiculous, but the atmosphere is so overpowering, and the performances so committed that, for me at least, Antichrist is very much a po-faced horror.

Speaking of the performances, they are utterly fantastic. Dafoe has the less showy part. He makes his character complex enough so we're not quite sure if we're rooting for him early on. He is so convinced that he's right that he does seem to be risking Her mental and physical health early on when he decides to take Her off her medication. The slightly smug condescension soon turns to horror as he realises what's going on with Her.

Charlotte Gainsbourg is stunning as She. Gainsbourg has played both unsympathetic (21 Grams) and sympathetic (I'm Not There) before, but I've never seen her give such a powerfully raw performance. Her grief is incredibly physical in the first part of the film. Both Dafoe and Gainsbourg give brave performances, but hers is tremendously so. The levels of nudity and violence are such, and they're often combined, that you have to admire the bravery in just signing on to do the part. It represents a narrow-mindedness on the part of most awards bodies that Gainsbourg has not been nominated for any prizes (although she deservedly won the Best Actress prize at Cannes).

Antichrist is by far the most visually striking film that I've seen of von Trier's. He has abandoned the Dogme rules and embraced greenscreen to create stunning, darkly beautiful landscapes. The lush green forest is shrouded in fog and mist. The green screen and CGI are used to great effect in Dafoe's dream sequences, in which he seems to be showered in the acorns that pelt the cabin's roof at night. The gore is horrible, but the film would be nothing without the atmosphere, the oppressive nature of the forest. As She tells Him, "Nature is Satan's church"

It's also, as the reviews have pointed out, very violent. Yes, the genital mutilation is there, and it is graphic. But I believe that it does have a point. The message of Antichrist isn't quite the same as Michael Haneke's in his Funny Games, which is aimed at punishing people who enjoy violence on screen. Antichrist's gruesomeness serves its purporse, which I think is two-fold. First,showing that this is how far the character has gone, and this is the consequence, and secondly the symbolic meaning. Antichrist takes little bits and pieces from body horror, torture porn, religious horror, Asian horror, and classic "cabin in the woods" horror. It does seem to be largely interested in violence against women. She is writing a thesis on medieval violence against women, but has misinterpreted it in a way that is impossible to talk about without ruining the film.

As for the misogyny, I disagree. Von Trier does seem to have set up that accusation with some of the dialogue and choosing to name the characters the generic He and She. However, it's about the horror of violence against women, and how far back it goes. Again, I can't say too much about Her thesis, but the inclusion of the texts on witchcraft and demons is important.

It's not perfect. At times the events in the film seem to be not especially well thought-out. The ending doesn't quite work as well as it should, and the inclusion of the three animals is a bit much. But generally, Antichrist is a success. It's horrifying, pure and simple. Dafoe and Gainsbourg are superb. But at the same time, and this is always a solid defence of films such as this, you don't have to watch it. It certainly earns it's 18 certificate, but this isn't a gratuitous slasher gorno. This is arthouse horror at its most extreme. Von Trier has announced that his next film will be a science fiction apocalypse horror, with Penélope Cruz attached to star. What are the odds that someone will be upset?

8/10