Satan's Got A River: Antichrist

I saw Lars Von Trier's Antichrist in July. I've watched it twice since then. It cut me deeply. That is not a pun. The movie burrowed into my subconscious, directly where my anxiety lives, and continues to reside in my frangible little hurt locker.  I've argued about it. I've defended Mr. Von Trier's look at women. I've pondered his study of grief, his complicated depiction of love, happiness, hate, sexuality. I know he has panic attacks -- real panic attacks. I've thought about his seriousness, his humor, his compassion, his beauty, horror and gore; his conflicted take on therapy and religion, specifically, behavioral modification and if any of these methods help a person toward enlightenment.

He's a clever trickster, but I believe his claims to have made the film in a demented, depressive state -- when the comforting haze of benzodiazepines have worn off and the nerves are so raw and fragile and exposed that one can only sublimate their problems through the cine-dreams enforced on Serge Gainsbourg's daughter. When one's power animal is a ridiculously literal talking fox explaining the order of things to a past Jesus.

This makes sense to me. I've become wildly personal about the thing. I flailed my arms about the picture. I realize it's only a movie. I realize it's not for everyone. But it’s certainly for me. And yet, I haven't been able to write about it. I can only think of this song.

Dolly and Porter get it.

Comments

[Paul D. Brazill]

I also 'liked' it and thought parts of it were lovely though I did think he over egged the pudding a bit but then, I suppose, that was the point.

[Maria]

How is it that when you write about how you can't write about a movie, it still reads like poetry? And then a song too. I love your writing so much.

[Watch Full Movies]

Hey...Really you have wrote very good. It looks like a poetry. Anyways i am very big fan of movies and really love to watch movies online.

[Erich Kuersten]

Wow, that clip is so.. Satanic. One look at Porter's hair and Dolly's eyes and you know they're both Satan incarnate.

I love Antichrist too! All of us sufferers of panic and anxiety have found our ultimate validation for the way we treat God like Ahab treats Moby Dick. Nature isn't sweet and cuddly! Harpoon its eye!

[Josh Brown]

It's like that old Vonnegut quote that goes something like..., "The world is too serious. To get mad at a work of art — because maybe somebody, somewhere is blowing his stack over what I’ve done — is like getting mad at a hot fudge sundae.

But then there's another quote that comes to mind that goes more like: "Chaos reigns."

[lynne jordan]

Love the movie and love that you posted Dolly & Porter singing Satan!!

[Andy]

There has been such a vehement backlash against this movie that has been whipped up into hysteria that people who have never seen think you are some kind of sick weirdo because you like it. “No I said I liked the movie Antichrist not I AM THE Antichrist!”.

We have an ultra conservative mainstream newspaper here in England that had an article about Antichrist entitled “What DOES it take for a film to get banned these days?” In the fifth paragraph after explaining how abhorrent the movie is he says “I haven't seen it myself, nor shall I - and I speak as a broad-minded arts critic”

I had trouble writing about it as well, when I reviewed in on my blog back in July it came out as incoherent drivel.