Antichrist

PLOT: After the tragic death of their young child, the pychologist husband (Willem Dafoe) takes his wife (Charlotte Gainsbourg) to a woodland retreat in a bid to confront her fears and resolve her growing madness. Unfortunately, in these quiet surroundings, things go really tits up...

I've tried to describe Antichrist to several people now, and it's always incurred similar reactions: 'I don't like films like that' or 'why do they make this kind of crap?'. It's probably not helped by my opening line, which is usually: 'My GOD. That was the most horrible movie I've ever seen!', followed by a description of the grim events that unfold upon Willem Dafoe's naked groin. And that's where the misunderstanding begins: people make the misconception that this is another torture porn ordeal in the mould of Hostel, Hills Have Eyes or Saw, where protagonists are tortured to complete buggery in staggeringly graphic scenes of splurty TERROR.

ANTICHRIST isn't one of that crowd. It isn't part of any crowd. Anyone who's ever seen a Lars Von Trier film will know that there are no boundaries to what can go on screen. His latest cinematic FACE-SLAP is actually a beautifully shot, menacingly poetic and ambiguous ARTHOUSE CHILLER, with themes of nature, sex and violence gratuitously bundled together. It just contains lots of horrible bits, predominately involving the reproductive organs - and not always on humans, either.

I think its core message, if there is one, is that nature can be a very shitty business. Unfortunately, while it's getting all profound, your base emotions usually mean you're too busy clutching onto your stomach and grimacing through finger-gaps to truly analyse - sort of like passing out during that pregnancy video in biology class.

The person I watched ANTICHRIST with didn't like it at all, whil at Cannes Festival some people even booed it. I've even heard some people accuse it of misogyny. One thing's for sure, it's going to create very strong opinions. Like David Lynch's Eraserhead, it's perhaps impossible that this flick will truly ENTERTAIN, but provided you can hang onto your sanity, its creepy mood and twisty f**ked-up ending will spin in your conscious for weeks to come - for both good and bad reasons. Just don't take a date to it!