Modern man is further removed from the truth of his own emotions than primitive man. --Kierkegaard
While the couple was having sex in the bathroom, their baby fell from the bed and died. The creation and death of life are the original traumas. Handel's arias and black-and-white slow motion give this cruel event a new "emotional length". The more emotions we invest, the more painful we are.
The husband takes his wife to a cabin in the forest to heal them from the unexpected loss of their child, but "nature is the temple of Satan." Between psychotherapy and witch research, a darker and more primitive drive drives the heroine gradually towards madness. Reason covers up and suppresses the omnipresent Satan, dominating others with disguised power relations, while hypocritically ignoring this. The wife's madness is not only the release of the pain of losing her son and primitive desires, but also the return of the suppressed rationality. Natural phenomena in nature have exceeded the constraints of moral ethics, order and rational logic, and these phenomena present a subverted nature. Order is an inevitable tool for religion to transform from primitive worship to organized collective worship. When people accept an orderly manner, they accept a kind of confinement. The game between rational logic and primitive religion gave rise to Protestantism, which has a profound influence on later generations. The inclusion of reason in religious thinking is Christianity's way of saving its precarious position. The prophecy of the "three beggars" in the film is in opposition to the birth of Jesus scene in the New Testament. These tit-for-tat symbolic allegories all reflect the director's attitude towards Christianity and its extensions, which is the most intuitive attitude of the film.
In this most philosophical work, Lars von Trier pushes the two themes of sex and religion to extremes. It is in extreme and transgressive situations that real thinking can unfold; it is also when the audience is "unacceptable" and "loses their sense of security", in other words under a kind of emotional oppression, that people can better trace the root cause behind this "unacceptability" and reflect on whether the so-called "security" is just an illusory cloak.
"I was very depressed for two full years. I didn't know what I was thinking all day long, or I didn't think about anything at all. This movie was shot during that time, and was inspired by my own feelings, thoughts, and fears. I made the movie to express a fear that is close to real darkness, rather than letting them experience my inner thoughts." The director vented all the gloom and irritability of the two years of schizophrenia in "Antichrist." In this film, Lars returns to his early fascination with visual tricks without losing the simple and powerful dramatic tension of "Dogville". Therefore, this film was a turning point in his directorial career.
antichrist screening
Time: 2023/9/24 (Sunday) 14:00-16:21, discuss together afterwards
Location: Wangjing, Beijing, 200 meters away from Exit C of Futong Subway Station (the specific location will be informed after registration)
Tickets are 20 yuan, which can be used to redeem tickets for future events if you are unable to attend the event on that day.
Detailed consultation: Gan (WuWoWang2)