Stream it now Antichrist 2009

 

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Lars Von Trier has created one of the beautiful, yet haunting and confusing films I've ever watched featuring some of the most disturbing scenes I've ever watched. Antichrist is one of them films, where I am very much on the fence as what I think to it...while this film has some amazingly dark, bleak and beautiful scenes which can completely suck you in. The story is very confusing and at some points, I'm not entirely sure on the actual plot of the film.

Antichrist tells the story of a man and a woman, just referred to as 'He' and 'She', whose child accidently falls out of a window while they were having sex. Stricten with grief, She collapses at the childs funeral and is hospitalized. He, is a therapist and feels that he can take better care of her at home and while trying to help her, she seems to undergo a complete mental break down aswell as a breakdown in their marriage. To try and resolve their marriage, they go to a place called Eden, which is their log cabin in the middle of a forest where everything kind of goes a little bit crazy.

While they are in the woods, its hard to know that what is actually reality and what is perceived in the mind. This is what confuses me most but I feel sorry William Dafoes character as he seems to be on the brutal end of all the abuse his clinicly insane wife is giving him. Looking back on this film, it shows that She never gives him time to grieve due her servere depressive state. This seems ultimately selfish which also ties in with the main theme of the film, human nature. The consensus of the film is that human nature is evil, which this film definitely portrays.

Both performances by William Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbough are brilliant, especially Charlotte's as the crazed She who gives such a realistic and disturbing performance.

The film was very well done, it is beautiful looking, very well acted and directed but the story doesn't seem to be up to the standard the rest of the film is. I'm not entirely sure what was going for Lars Von Triers mind when he was writing this, I've heard he was quite depressed but on the screen, this is a brutal, bleak and sexually violent film that questions sanity and human nature as a whole.

not the most amazing movie ever made, but i loved Lars von Trier's boldness in his disturbing visuals. the story was hard to follow and the constant handheld camera was annoying, but it was performed extremely well and whether you love it or hate it, it's definitely worth seeing at least once.

I generally adore films by Lars von Trier, but this one was a mess. Maybe that's the point, and it went over my head. I wouldn't hold the highly graphic nature of the flick against it, if I felt some sort of cohesion somewhere along the line.

Sorry, Lars - but I do look forward to whatever you're doing next!

While as an atheist I've been annoyed by a lot of religious symbolism in the movie. I begin to think that film has to do less with religion than some darker aspects of sociobiology.

While most of us, especially city dwellers, think of nature as cuddly and friendly. It's certainly filled with a lot of bloodshed and suffering.

We are even more self-deceived about our own nature. We think we have sex because we love somebody, when in fact we love somebody to have sex.

Those who are familiar with sociobiology would understand that most bloodshed has been spilled in epic wars and ordinary crime, with the ultimate goal of reproduction.

Reproduction is the driver of human history, and in general of the whole biosphere.

An oak tree fills the ground with thousand of oak "embryos" in the hope to reproduce. A woman endures months of pregnancy, child labor pains and years of subsequent rearing, in order to reproduce. A man endures back breaking work, fighting in bloody tribal, national or gang wars, in order to reproduce.

Is it evil to kill you own child - the product of reproduction ? Or is it more evil to kill the woman who killed your (and her) child, the product of reproduction ?

Killing your own child is in most cases "unnatural", yet if nature is "evil", can't infanticide be construed as "good", since it's a rebellion against the nature red in tooth and claw!

Was I moved, or sickened? Either way, I'm on the fence. As are most.

A wonderful movie in the terms of cinematography, and does have suspense throughout. However, the rest is just disturbing and just plain weird. I really do not know what exactly to say other than this is the craziest movie I have ever seen.

Antichrist is one of the most controversial movies of the last year that is both gruesome and depressing but at the same time touching and highly emotional. It is a shocking story of a married couple that, in a desperate attempt to cope with the death of their only childe, take refuge in a forest cabin, but instead of recovering they are literarily driven mad by their own fierce emotions. There is a lot of appalling violence that strangely enough evokes compassion for the two heroes and explicit sex once again makes its way into mainstream European cinema.
The whole atmosphere is intense, illusory and surrealistic, and you all of sudden find yourself in another world, another dimension that happens to resemble a fairytale, although a very grim one.
There is of course an interesting motif that deals with a human interaction with ‘alive’ and ‘talking’ nature but it is depicted in a way that is haunting rather than inspirational.
In summary: Antichrist evokes mixed feelings and is certainly not for the faint-hearted.

My god!!! How fucking awful, gruesome, grotesque and disturbing can images be?! This movie answers that, with a simple "Really, really." But it also answers another question, "How completely beautiful can a story about grief and depression be?" Obviously the answer is, "breath-taking." Yes, you heard me right, I found this movie breath-taking. As someone who has battled with grief and depression, I could pick no other movie that can more accurately represent those feelings and the things it does to a person. That's what this movie is about, it's not hard to figure out really, the very first chapter is titled "grief" and is constantly being brought up.

A lot of critics are trying to say this movie is almost, preaching misogyny, the hatred of women. Those people and critics who say that remind me of the kids in IB english who raise their hands with this fantastical theory about the book we're reading but don't have any real proof from the text to support it. Yes, the woman is weak, yes, she literally says something along the lines of "women are the center of all evil" but you also have to consider the fact that she's represented as the insane one, whereas the Man is sanity. Now yes you can say, why is the Woman insane and the Man sanity, because that's how it is. Because of the mother/son connection it's easier to lend a connection of that type of grief. Especially when you find that the Man had seemed distant.

Now yes, this movie is not for some people, it does have some of the most grotesque images I've seen in my life. But in the words of a dear friend of mine (contains spoilers):

"Yes, she smashes his balls, and yes, she makes him cum blood, and yes, she cuts off her clitoris with rusty scissors (in close-up).
It's also one of the most incredible movies released in the past decade. Charlotte Gainsbourg is one of the best actresses we have, and that she is not at least nominated for an Oscar, while understandable, is an absolute crime."

Let's not even pretend that the Oscar's are relevant, any thinking person knows they're not. But it's true, the performances delivered in this movie, with much help from the script, are amazing. AMAZING. If for anything else, watch it for the performances.

More than anything I've learned from this movie is that I found dumb people like to throw around the word "pretentious" when faced with something they don't, and possibly don't want to, understand.

The movie is gory, grotesque, disturbing, but beautiful. And considering the subject matter, I'd have it no other way.

I gotta say, I'm a fan of Lars von Trier. Someone who's not afraid to do what he wants and has the talent to pull it off, most of the time. Of course he taken on a bad rep over the years for some of the comments he's made, alas 1: I don't really care and 2: I judge the work, not the artist.

Just from glancing quickly through other peoples opinions, this is definitely a love it or hate it film. I tend to agree with the people who enjoyed first half and felt it feel off the map the second. If you haven't heard the premise quite yet, it's the story of a couple whose son takes a dive out of a high story window and the couple then commences to retreat to a cabin in the woods so the husband, a therapist, can help his wife recover from the event where chaos then commences to reign.

The biggest things I have to praise are the performances of the actors. Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg were put into tough situations and they braved it out and are one of the major reasons I would recommend this. Another reason would be the visuals and the atmosphere von Trier was able to achieve through the visuals. I've heard the word pretentious being hurled at the film, which may be too harsh. I feel that there is a lot to take in but those that take it from face value are missing some interesting points.

Now, after the turn of events halfway through, I can't really wholeheartedly recommend those parts to anyone. The film as a whole is not for the faint of heart, but if you can stomach it, I'd say its worth a view just to discuss some of the symbolism and what the meaning of the picture actually is. This is not von Triers finest piece, but there is enough here to recommend a viewing to those willing to stomach it...