Hate it or love it. It is one of those very few movies that definitely deserve a mentioning. Antichrist, directed by Lars Von Trier will surely blow your mind away. This is by far the best horror/ drama released in 2009. A movie that deals with a very touchy subject like the essence of human relationship and death submerged in the tragic tale of depression and darkness.

Antichrist is a tragic story of a couple, the husband (Willem Dafoe) and the wife (Charlotte Gainsbourg) that has lost their young child. The wife being traumatised is taken into a care centre and the husband who himself is a therapist, tries to treat his wife at home. It becomes almost impossible for him to find the actual fear factor of his wife. As the problem begins to grow stronger, they decide to spend some time away from the town at the cabin in the woods, more close to the nature. But the condition of the wife does not improve and the outcome leads to a disaster.

This is the first movie of Lars Von Trier that I have seen. His other mentionable works like Dancer in the Dark, Riget etc. are yet to be explored. I am yet to see those. However, writing a review for Antichrist is turning out to be a difficult job for me. Sometimes the movie seems to be too smart and sometimes not. Judging a film like is a difficult job.

This pervert and cruel minds of people have been well explored by Lars Tries in Antichrist. It is definitely noticeable in the characters as well as it is bound to make you think as an audience too. A one and half hour show of sex and fear, somewhat perverted but yet classy. The initial love making scenes (black and white) were too good to explain. The combination of black and white images, slow motion camerawork and exceptionally well chosen background score has enriched the horror movie. The first half of this movie went on pretty nicely at an interesting pace, but the second half seems to be a bit shaky.

Now let’s come back to the graphic violence in the movie. It is neither Saw nor Hostel. Yes the wife tortures her husband. She drills an iron rod through the calf muscle of her husband. And there is an extremely disturbing as well as unexpected scene of genital self-mutilation. But considering the dark storyline of Antichrist, these scenes don’t seem to bother you much. Sexuality played a crucial role in Antichrist. Sex, something natural is close associated with the wife. And she cannot be controlled unless she is taken into submission. Is sex so powerful that you will just stare at your toddler falling out of window while you are doing ‘it’? A horror movie with a difference! No matter whether you like it or not, don’t miss Antichrist.

Watch the trailer of Antichrist

My Rating – 8/10
Learn more about the movie on IMDB

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