Tag Archives: antichrist

Sex & Celluloid: “Antichrist” Gives Critics Castration Anxiety

Drew GrantMay 29, 2009 //

Lars von Trier’s newest film “Antichrist” has been getting tons of buzz at Cannes this year, but not the kind you’d expect from the venerable director of “Dogville” and the Dogme 95 movement. Instead, “Antichrist” was greeted by boos and disgust. The film, which centers on Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg after the death of their child, includes a scene so incredibly gruesome that I won’t bother to describe them again — Amelia already made you lose your breakfast last week. Lets just say the buzzwords for the violent climax (so to speak) involve the removal of at least two important pieces of male hardware during the act of lovemaking. Oh, and the movie also has a talking fox. Keep reading »

Skip This Flick: Lars Von Trier’s “Antichrist”

Amelia McDonell-ParryMay 21, 2009 //

If you’re mid-breakfast, you might want to skip this post. One of the films that debuted at this week’s Cannes Film Festival is “Antichrist,” the latest from director Lars Von Trier. Since the screening yesterday, everyone has been talking about how the movie crosses the line of what’s appropriate for “mainstream” cinema. Starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe, the film is about a couple who, while mourning the death of their young son, mutilate each other in vile, graphic, despicable ways.

“Gainsbourg hits Dafoe so hard in the testicles with a plank of wood that he lapses into a coma. He ejaculates blood when she masturbates him. She drills a hole through his leg before tying him to a rock. But the scene that has caused the most disquiet is the close-up of Gainsbourg’s character cutting off her clitoris with a rusty pair of scissors.”

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