Von Trier tries so hard and does so well in so many ways, crafting a biting art film that could have lost its resonance and purpose in the midst of artistic ambition, which still has a tendency to rear its ugly head into things time and again, backed by questionable pacing and visuals that threaten the reward value of the final product.
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I've already said that the film is a highly ethereal drama, but the artistic license taken to storytelling by no means expires there, as von Trier is very experimental in the way he meditatively tells this tale, and while such experimentation is generally comfortable, there are times in which von Trier becomes more focused on thematic visuals over genuine human characterization that perhaps could have sold the themes of the film better. Of course, when the film isn't trying too hard to disturb, it's trying too hard to resonate, because in addition to possibly being von Trier's most ethereal film, the drama is possibly von Trier's most bleak film, which is saying a lot, thus rendering the final product consistently and perhaps punishingly hopeless, in a manner that is handled well enough to compel pretty thoroughly, but is often too challenging to be effective, at least when the drama loses substance to feed genuine resonance. The film is unrated, and you'd be very much justified in expressing concern that the filmmakers simply didn't bother securing an opinion from the MPAA, as this is pretty decidedly an NC-17 film that breaks boundaries and goes as far as it can with its content, and not just sexual, incorporating several deeply disturbing visuals that are often treated with enough thematic taste to be effective, and just as often gratuitous contradictions of taste that momentarily render the drama too trashy to be artistic, or even resonant. Quite honestly, there are number of these lapses, for although the film runs a relatively mere 108 minutes, it drags to that point, its momentum retarded by a script by von Trier which goes bloated with filler, if anything at all, until the minimalist drama slips into aimlessness that makes the cold spells all the blander, until punctuated with a touch too much intensity. There are plenty of disturbing effects being used to disturbing effect, but when it's all said and done, at least the film is good, even though certain visuals aren't the only unsettling things about it.Ĭonsidering that this is a Lars von Trier film, it's easy to expect that it will be ethereal, but this is one of, if not von Trier's most ethereal efforts, and his thoughtfulness is so artistically realized that the final product generally proves to be adequately entertaining, or at least resonant enough to compensate for slowness, yet there are times in which von Trier's quiet intensity gets to be more dully dry than anything, often something fierce, and such moments seem to thrive on lapses in material for von Trier to draw upon with his thoughtfulness.
Like I said, this film is messed up, and that isn't even the most disturbing thing here, although that might simply be because it's kind of cool seeing that effect reflect that von Trier can, in fact, work with a budget. Fox" should rush out to see a fox eviscerate itself and growl out, "Chaos reigns!".
If nothing else, 2009 saw him get quite the obsession with showing up in films for the art crowd that featured foxes, which isn't to say that the families who saw "The Fantastic Mr. Well, "The Last Temptation of Christ" was never what you'd look to for a comfortingly respectful portrayal of Jesus, so it appears to be Dafoe's thing to star in unsettling spiritual films. I like how, with this film, von Trier says, "Forget it", and goes all-out with disturbing material, to the point of giving this film the title "Antichrist" and having it star someone who played Christ. Yes, I'm aware that Dafoe is working with doubles and prosthetics, but certain things portrayed in this film aren't exactly what you'd like to associate with people as weird-looking as Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg, as surely as there are certain things portrayed here that aren't exactly what you'd like to associate with any poor sucker. For those who felt that Lars von Trier stood to show you more of Willem Dafoe in "Manderlay", fear not, for this film shows you more than you would care to see of Dafoe.
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