Pop Culture Reviews

Antichrist – Movie Review

[xrr rating=5.5/10 imageset=tiny_star label="Movie Rating:"]

Distributor: Zentropa Entertainments  Released: 2009 Genre: Horror/Drama Credits: Director: Lars Von Trier Writer: Lars Von Trier Starring: Willem Defoe (He), Charlotte Gainsborough (She) Rating: R18

I saw this movie last night as part of the Auckland Film Festival and I admit I didn’t know anything about it other than being told ‘to see this movie, it’s really f**ked up!’. And I have limits to what I would consider entertainment and just plain disgusting. Antichrist sits on the border of that very, thin line. I wouldn’t go so far as to call this movie ‘art’ but if you look at Antichrist in the broader sense of the word, expression, no matter how crude, odd, weird, or freaky it may be is always a form of ‘art’.

Now we’ve got that out of the way, what was the movie like? Well, it wasn’t horror – of that much I’m certain. Horror (on the screen, at least) is supposed to frighten you. You’re supposed to feel a sensation of fear, even if it is minimal. Antichrist did not make me feel fearful. So I disagree that this movie could or should be classified as horror. Although there are many sub-categories of horror, I don’t think Antichrist belongs to any of them. It’s definitely drama because it is a movie about the breakdown in a relationship between a husband and wife after the untimely death of their infant son.

But what transpires between the two as the wife succumbs to an extreme bout of depression and grief (and eventually psychosis) gradually becomes more and more graphically violent, to the point where it’s no longer about grief but about anger, suffering, rage and violence. If that’s the kind of movie you think you’ll enjoy, then Antichrist should be high on your list.

As for me, I was for the most part, unimpressed. I do like Willem Defoe as an actor, and I thought the two actors did a very fine job (especially Charlotte Gainsborough playing the tortured and psychologically ill wife) but it wasn’t the movie I was expecting and therefore felt deflated more than anything else. I guess I really should have checked out the trailer first…