Lars von Trier is not known for having a light touch. In Antichrist, the director who brought us such memorably morose movies as Breaking the Waves and Dancer in the Dark, tackles the uncomfortable topic of life in the aftermath of a child’s death. Starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe (billed only as “She” and “He”), the film weaves together sex and death right from the beginning. As the film opens, the couple makes love in the shower…while their young son plunges to his death, forever marring the act. Von Trier’s film The Idiots was one of the early adopters of the un-simulated sex scene, so it should come as no surprise that when the couple finds themselves at the height of despair, they act out their misery sexually and aggressively. True to form their grief does not stop them from further copulation, but tinges every action with darkness, despair and urgency. It is searingly uncomfortable.
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