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Nature is Satan’s Church: Von Trier’s Antichrist Trailer

I couldn’t help but think of Polanski and a little of Kubrick’s The Shining with today’s first glimpse into Antichrist. It comes across as distinctly “Von Trier”, due to the technical style he employs with the use of handheld shots and natural lighting, but there are some complicated shots involved, and special effects work (no Donkeys were killed on set) that I suspect came from sources that go beyond literature and includes paintings, and perhaps ideas from the cited filmmakers above.

A grieving couple retreat to ’Eden’, their isolated cabin in the woods, where they hope to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage. But nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse… 

I couldn’t help but think of Polanski and a little of Kubrick‘s The Shining with today’s first glimpse into Antichrist. It comes across as distinctly “Von Trier”, due to the technical style he employs with the use of handheld shots and natural lighting, but there are some complicated shots involved, and special effects work (no Donkeys were killed on set) that I suspect came from sources that go beyond literature and includes paintings, and perhaps ideas from the cited filmmakers above.

Written by Anders Thomas Jensen and von Trier, based on the theory that it was Satan, not God, who created the world, the trailer features a Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg who take the route that Jack and Wendy Torrance took – isolation from society bringis out the worst in people. The official short synopsis tells us that the marriage has reached the breaking point but doesn’t detail the key story element: the death of a child. 

Look for more hoopla from Cannes in a month from now. 

 

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Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).

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