Review by Josh Felty
Lars von Trier is not a filmmaker you associate with simplicity. His style, as part of the whole Dogme 95 schtick, is artsy-fartsy to the core. Not that there's anything wrong with that thing, it's just that in his latest, amply titled "Antichrist", he revels in mind games no other sensible human being would dare play.
In spite of title, "Antichrist" really exudes nothing but boring. The only saving grace to this film would be the uber slow-motion that reminded me of a bad perfume advertisement. Seriously, at least Zach Snyder puts a story behind his insipid use of it. This movie stars the affable Willem Dafoe, who before this giant mess really shined in "Shadow of the Vampire", "The Life Aquatic", and lent his remarkable voice to "Finding Nemo". I admire Dafoe and his female co-star, Charlotte Gainsbourg, for their performances in this; the abstract subject matter and disturbingly graphic sado-masochistic sex scenes aside, they both gave great performances. That doesn't mean a thing in the end though, because there's really not much to hang on.
He (Dafoe) and She (Gainsbourg) lose their infant son at the beginning of the film, during perhaps the most pretentious slow-motion shower sequence one can stomach. The rest of the film consists of Dafoe's character helping to relieve (or perhaps channel) his wife's despair over the loss. The whole affair continues with gratuitous sex scenes (did we really have to see Dafoe's derriere every other minute? I think not), blood squirting from places which blood should never flow (good grief), and other haughty doodads that add nothing in the way of plot development. In the end, that doesn't matter; "Antichrist" is a tormented filmmaker's masturbatory coup de gras. Nothing more.
If you're going into this one thinking you're watching a horror movie, even one from the torture porn ilk, you will be sadly disappointed. While von Trier succeeds in evoking the most unsettling imagery, "Antichrist" is art house fare disguised as exploitation posing as dramatic pornography. I suggest you skip it, unless you like fast-forwarding through every moment in disgusted boredom, as I did. 4/10