Antichrist

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Year:	2009
Country of origin:	Denmark / Germany / France / Sweden / Italy / Poland
Director:	Lars von Trier
Genre:	Deranged melancholia
Starring:	Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg
Rating:	5/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0870984/
Tagline:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0870984/
Favourite line:	"A crying woman is a scheming woman."

Rated and reviled in equal measure, one thing is for sure: you won’t forget Antichrist.

The plot:
A professional couple, She a writer, He a psychologist, lose a child.
The woman (unnamed, and simply referred to as She in the credits) perceives the death as an act of neglect on her part, even though the child fell to his death whilst both She and her partner were mid-coitus.
Interested in her cycle of grief, He (also unnamed) suggests they retreat to the place She fears the most – the woods – so that, together, they can work through this difficult time.
Appearing to be making progress, She seems to be on the mend when, in a moment of brutal violence, She knocks He unconscious – a large piece of timber to the testicles does the trick – and proceeds to hobble him.
Awakening to discover a huge piece of metal now attached to his ankle, He attempts to flee, but She is not done just yet…….

Opening with a death scene, and that of a child, no less, intercut by shots of actual penetrative sex, all played out under a score so sumptuous you may well be brought to instant tears, maverick director von Trier kicks off with a statement of intent: expect the unexpected.
Shot using a mixture of the Dogme ’95 principles – if you don’t know what that is, look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogme_95 - and elaborate, complex moments of surrealism, this is one to mess with the head.
Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg, He and She respectively, crackle as the grief-stricken parents, bouncing off one another, acting their fucking socks off, to great effect.
Von Trier has recently confessed to experiencing profound depression and, whilst everything the man says has to be taken with a pinch of salt, glimpses of a bleak mind at work are central to the movie. Even the imagery that, in other hands, would denote new life, hope, happiness – acorns raining down from oak trees, a doe giving birth to a fawn – here are tainted with a sense of tragedy, of loss. As one life begins, another must end, seems to be the pervading message.
Ostensibly a horror film, whilst the violence and madness are certainly graphic, with scenes including genital mutilation - both male and female - the aforementioned hobbling, as well as sexual violence, the lingering impression is one of a decent into madness, as grief tips over the edge into outright despair.
Haunting, evocative, intelligent, deliberately provocative, this could be the best film I’ve seen so far this year.
Challenging brilliance.