Antichrist Controversy at Cannes

Each year at the Cannes film festival, you can bet that one film will rise above all others when it comes to drawing the ire of critics. This year, it appears that movie will be Lars von Trier’s Antichrist.

The film was shown at the French film festival on Sunday, and it was greeted with a mixture of applause, boos, gasps and derisive laughter. Several critics have labeled the film “offensive,” especially a scene which graphically depicts sexual mutilation. Von Trier also dedicated his film to legendary Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, and this seemed to set off a few of the self-important critics.

Antichrist stars Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg as a couple who lose their child to an accidental death. The wife goes heavy on the sedatives, but her therapist husband convinces her to lay off the meds and retreat to an isolated cabin in the woods. There, her condition worsens, and she puts herself and her husband through absolute hell.

In 2000, von Trier won the top prize at Cannes with Dancer in the Dark, but the critics aren’t going to be as complimentary this time around. The Dutch director, however, had the following to say: “I can offer no excuse for Antichrist … other than my absolute belief in the film — the most important film of my entire career!”

For those of you who are curious, here’s the Antichrist trailer:

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 at 9:39 am and is filed under Movie News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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One Response to “Antichrist Controversy at Cannes”

  1. 10 Good Palm d’Or Winners at Cannes says:
    May 19, 2010 at 7:47 am

    [...] Antichrist Controversy at Cannes [...]

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