Antichrist

Welcome back, loyal reader, nice to see you again. Speaking of "seeing", I'd like to go into the realm of "What Has Been Seen, Cannot Be Un-Seen", and discuss an arty little film called "Antichrist" by Lars Von Trier. Before we do, let's break down what this particular realm consists of. "What Cannot Be Un-Seen" is a statement not to be taken lightly. If someone tells you this, and you proceed anyway, it's your own damn fault. You were warned. Even if this person doesn't go into great detail, if they make this statement, they are absolved. This person has seen something so irrevocably horrifying that they care enough about you to try to warn you of it. That being said, time to discuss the film at hand.

Cabin in the Woods = Bad Things, man.

Written and directed by Lars Von Trier, "Antichrist" stars Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg as a married couple, who, while in the act of having sex (which is shown quite explicitly in the film), have their child fall to his death out of a window. She falls into a deep depression and He decides that the treatment She is receiving is inadequate, and being that He is a therapist, takes on treating her himself. Oh, and that's how they are referred to in the credits, as "He" and "She", so that's what I'm doing here. Anyway, the treatment He is giving her at home doesn't seem to be working and the only way for her to deal with it is rampant sexual behavior. He is too arrogant to see that he is not helping matters, and takes the treatment to Eden, an isolated cabin in the woods where She had spent some time the previous year with the child, doing research on the genocide of the witches.

Not that kind of wild ride.

I'd like to say this is where it gets weird, but this film is plenty weird from the get-go. In a film that shows actual male to female penetration within the first few minutes, and isn't a full-on porno, you know you're in for a wild ride. This film is full of shocking and thought provoking  images, but most of them come from the cabin and what happens inside of it as She continues down the spiral of madness/grief and her sexual appetites and escapades increase. Seriously, this woman goes into horny overdrive, but then takes it to the violent level by asking him to smack her around, and not in a playful way. And shortly after that, She turns things around and puts the violence towards him in what has to be the most shocking thing I have ever seen. This one scene alone will simultaneously horrify all men who see it, and empower all women. Ugh...I just got a full body shudder from thinking about it. At least she evens the score later on with a pair of scissors in another incredibly graphic display. These would be the moments you can't un-see that I was talking about.

THIS is how I like my Fe-Devils.

This is where I reach my conundrum: there are those moments in this film that will haunt you for the rest of your days and I wouldn't wish on anyone, but overall the film is good. It is very slow paced from the start, and the real shocks don't come until the final third of the picture, but getting there is well acted and even though you're faced with the thought of a naked Dafoe, you can find comfort that both he and Gainsbourg had stand-ins for their hardcore scenes. The story itself gets a little confusing at times, and the title is a little misleading, as there is never really an "antichrist" revealed, although it is hinted that it may be women as a whole, or even the couples child. The conclusion of the film is jarring, and leaves it open to interpretation as to what ultimately happens. So I don't know whether to recommend it or not, so all I can do is rate it as a film and let you, the reader, decide whether or not you want to take the plunge.

7 out of 10 Fists.