As promised, some thoughts on Antichrist.
First of all, I guess I should give fair warning with a “spoiler alert,” although I assure you it won’t ruin the movie or make it less suspenseful for you. I knew a great deal of what was going to happen & I still screamed like a little girl.
I expected to be offended, that’s how everyone sets it up to be. “It’s really misogynist” was the top comment. But, if this fact alone would keep anyone from seeing it–I really think that putting a big sexist stamp on the whole thing is a ridiculous simplification. You could even go so far as to say it is sexist in the opposite direction by making the male a cold & at times unbelievably calm character in the face of grief, chaos, & violence, while the female is often empowered by her slew of emotions. But all in all I think the relationship dynamic is too complicated to say it’s just an unnecessarily sexist movie. Yeah, on the poster, the second t in Antichrist is also the symbol for female or Venus, but it’s a little to overt to be taken so seriously, I think.
The film has two characters that are referred to in the script simply as “he” & “she.” Because of this a lot of people saw them as symbols for all members of their gender or a caricature of gender stereotypes. I see where this comes from; he doesn’t grieve excessively after the death of his son while she lets grief and fear make her hysterical & violent. But I wonder if one would make that assumption without having known that about the script. (It’s true that they don’t have names, but in a film with only two characters, names would be unnecessary. In conversation with one other person we rarely need to use names.)
So I don’t think they are caricatures or stereotypes. I find it hard to believe that every female wants to maim her son & let him die, or that every male would want to “cure” his lover by submerging her in fear. They were both too individual to me to make a case for the gender symbol. It’s too overt if you read it that way, & there are too many elements you have to overlook to make this case.
My boyfriend & I discussed it on the drive home, & he said it could be read better in the light of an oppressed figure internalizing the oppressor’s prejudices. “She” writes a thesis on misogyny & gynocide (which is a neologism, I found out) &, it seems, forms similar arguments as the murderers of women for why she is unworthy of life. This to me was far more disturbing than the simple “man is rational, woman is emotional” stamp.
I’m still mulling over the “Three Beggars” (Grief, Pain, & Despair) in my mind. It really turned me off at first. Three animals represent the beggars (a deer, a fox, & a crow), & he encounters them all in the woods in different grotesque states of dying or suffering. It also serves as a way to section off the film, but how this relates to the couple’s emotional dynamic is for the most part beyond me, with the exception of the obvious mutilation.
Enough about meaning. The cinematography was beautiful, & I’m glad I got to see it on the big screen. The prologue is especially beautiful, shot in black and white with no soundtrack save for a lovely Handel piece. The characters are, shot-wise, monumental & give off the feeling that being a human being is in some way sacred. But after the death of the child, many shots dwarf them, namely when they are in the woods, a really fabulous shift. Camera effects (that I don’t have the jargon to pinpoint) portray fear or lust or anxiety in really awesome ways; even if you have trouble with the content, you must admit that it is quite technically impressive, though I don’t condone Lars von Trier stating that because of this he is the best filmmaker of all time (although, according to a friend, he says this at the release of all his films).
Reactions? My boyfriend & I clung to each other like children. I screamed with my head buried in his coat a time or two, & he hyperventilated over the genital mutilation. (I just screamed some more.) Not the kind of movie I’d want to pop in at home & watch over my knitting or a cup of tea. The sensitive should bring a friend.
Oh, yeah. The talking fox was not a strong point.
