Emerging from Europe following the new millennium was a new brand of art film. The continental cinema's notoriety for avant-garde, unflinching depictions of the human body and sex was extended with the coming of the 'Extreme': films with highly stylised sex and violence that often combined both.
This recent and controversial film movement has been branded as somewhat lesser in quality by traditionalist and oftentimes elitist film critics who accuse extreme films of "disregarding narrative conventions in favour of grandiose spectacles of gore and violence" (Kerner & Knapp, 2016, p. 1). While it is undeniable that paradigms for the genre such as 'A Serbian Film' (2010, Spasojević) and 'Antichrist' (2009, Von Trier) contain a considerable amount of sexually charged gore, I would argue that they are not omitting their narrative developments. In other words, the visceral imagery on display in such films is a stylistic approach to dealing with brutal and challenging storylines.
Taking Lars Von Trier's 'Antichrist' into study, narrative is at the forefront of the film. The film is separated into 'chapters' and includes a prologue and epilogue thus following the conventional layering of fictional writing. The prologue and epilogue even contain the same operatic soundtrack and black-and-white cinematography, making the narrative somewhat circular. In fact, Von Trier takes inspiration from the work of Tarkovsky, the latters' 'The Sacrifice' (1986) "offers the most explicit dialogical framework for the motives in Antichrist" (Thomson, 2009, p. 1) which suggests the film has a solid grounding in earlier art cinema.
This, coupled with the separation of the chapters (named 'Grief', 'Pain', 'Despair' and 'The Three Beggars' respectively to reflect the mythological alignment of three figures of death) rejects the simplified view that this film offers no more than bloody compositions of body parts and blunt weaponry.
This recent and controversial film movement has been branded as somewhat lesser in quality by traditionalist and oftentimes elitist film critics who accuse extreme films of "disregarding narrative conventions in favour of grandiose spectacles of gore and violence" (Kerner & Knapp, 2016, p. 1). While it is undeniable that paradigms for the genre such as 'A Serbian Film' (2010, Spasojević) and 'Antichrist' (2009, Von Trier) contain a considerable amount of sexually charged gore, I would argue that they are not omitting their narrative developments. In other words, the visceral imagery on display in such films is a stylistic approach to dealing with brutal and challenging storylines.
Taking Lars Von Trier's 'Antichrist' into study, narrative is at the forefront of the film. The film is separated into 'chapters' and includes a prologue and epilogue thus following the conventional layering of fictional writing. The prologue and epilogue even contain the same operatic soundtrack and black-and-white cinematography, making the narrative somewhat circular. In fact, Von Trier takes inspiration from the work of Tarkovsky, the latters' 'The Sacrifice' (1986) "offers the most explicit dialogical framework for the motives in Antichrist" (Thomson, 2009, p. 1) which suggests the film has a solid grounding in earlier art cinema.
This, coupled with the separation of the chapters (named 'Grief', 'Pain', 'Despair' and 'The Three Beggars' respectively to reflect the mythological alignment of three figures of death) rejects the simplified view that this film offers no more than bloody compositions of body parts and blunt weaponry.
As evident in any frame from Antichrist, the film is carefully and beautifully shot; attention is paid to the physical spaces around our conflicting characters, relating to their psychological states. To exemplify, outdoor natural scenery is often distorted from reality through editing techniques and the bodies of nature are displayed in unnatural ways including a tree intertwined with human hands and a fox that eats its own organs. Therefore, the sense of artistic alienation has been closely manipulated by Von Trier in order to transmit what it must feel like to grieve and descend to obsessive delirium.
The sequences of sex and violence present in this film and others are sparsely interrupted by cuts - a direct rejection of Hollywood's dominant code of conduct in depicting such scenarios. The absence of cuts in such extreme viewings contributes to the "showing instead of telling" (Brown, 2013, p. 29) attitude of the directors. Spectators are made to watch this without the relief of rapid editing, a trait which fuels the 'exploitation' argument behind such films. Yet, Hagman suggests that this exploitative power is a tool for entering the minds of international viewers through an 'affect economy' which establishes a deterritorialised alternative to Hollywood's conquering of international markets (2007, p. 36).
In summary, the European Extreme film movement of the 2000s brought with it an awareness of its own brutality which was used in conjunction with more artistic filmmaking; this strong, emotional pairing has allowed for the discussions around such low-brow works to exist at all. In order to fully experience and enjoy the talent committed into the writing of such graphic and challenging films, you must look past the unwavering conservative practices of the majority of the popular films more frequently viewed and reproduced from Hollywood. Only then is it possible to consider these films as highly artistic, incorporating nudity and torture as a form of not only rebellion but also as a reflection of the human's nature to be fascinated and compelled by sex and violence.
The sequences of sex and violence present in this film and others are sparsely interrupted by cuts - a direct rejection of Hollywood's dominant code of conduct in depicting such scenarios. The absence of cuts in such extreme viewings contributes to the "showing instead of telling" (Brown, 2013, p. 29) attitude of the directors. Spectators are made to watch this without the relief of rapid editing, a trait which fuels the 'exploitation' argument behind such films. Yet, Hagman suggests that this exploitative power is a tool for entering the minds of international viewers through an 'affect economy' which establishes a deterritorialised alternative to Hollywood's conquering of international markets (2007, p. 36).
In summary, the European Extreme film movement of the 2000s brought with it an awareness of its own brutality which was used in conjunction with more artistic filmmaking; this strong, emotional pairing has allowed for the discussions around such low-brow works to exist at all. In order to fully experience and enjoy the talent committed into the writing of such graphic and challenging films, you must look past the unwavering conservative practices of the majority of the popular films more frequently viewed and reproduced from Hollywood. Only then is it possible to consider these films as highly artistic, incorporating nudity and torture as a form of not only rebellion but also as a reflection of the human's nature to be fascinated and compelled by sex and violence.
|
This extended video essay offers a deeper, more provocative and rigorous insight into the meanings behind the films of Lars Von Trier specifically, including Antichrist. His films are a justifiable template for the films by many other extreme directors. |
Bibliography:
Brown, W. (2013). Violence in Extreme Cinema and the Ethics of Spectatorship. Projections, 7(1), 25-42. https://doi.org/10.3167/proj.2013.070104 Hagman, H. (2007). 'Every Cannes needs its scandal': Between art and exploitation in contemporary French film. Film International, 5(5), 32-41. https://doi.org/10.1386/fiin.5.5.32 Kerner, A., & Knapp, J. (2016). Extreme Cinema: Affective Strategies in Transnational Media. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctt1bh2k3x.1 Thomsen, B. M. S. (2009). Antichrist - Chaos Reigns: The event of violence and the haptic images in Lars Von Trier's film. Journal of Aesthetics and Culture, 1, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.3402/jac.v1i0.3668 Von Trier, L. (Writer/Director). (2009). Antichrist [Motion Picture]. Denmark: Zentropa Entertainments. |
My favourite student blog and why:
The blog of Student #942975 has interested me the most. They have designed a visually pleasing and tidy website with a bright colour palette; all blog posts contain videos and images which effectively support points made as well as add aesthetic flare. Their knowledge of each film is very much evident, extending from this they have clearly communicated the vital skill of explaining historical contexts that surround our films. They have included a wide array of research (correctly listed in APA 6 format in a bibliography after each post) which demonstrates their breadth of research as being very wide. Analysing Czech Cinema, their arguments have been constructed and shared clearly and strongly and are independent of the question's guidance - meaning they have actively made their own conclusions. |