Antichrist poster & wallpaper
Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg

This enormously controversial psychodrama-cum-horror film from Danish enfant terrible Lars von Trier charts the degeneration of a marriage into apocalyptic violence, chaos, and insanity following an u... read more read more...nthinkable domestic tragedy. The film opens with a prologue. While they make love in their apartment on a snowy winter afternoon, a husband and wife known only as "He" and "She" (Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg) fail to keep an eye on their young toddler. In a horrific turn of events, the child wanders over to an open window, entranced by the snow cascading down, and falls two stories to his death. Von Trier then divides the remainder of the film into four chapters, beginning with "Grief." In that segment, the woman finishes a month's hospitalization, and accuses her husband of apathy over the child's death, but proceeds to take responsibility for it herself; he calmly and rationally guides her through this process. In the second segment, "Pain," she confesses to him that she's most terrified of their property in the forest, because she spent time with her son there over the preceding summer; as a form of therapy, he takes her to that locale on a wilderness retreat. She appears to grow more calm and rational over their first days in that milieu. Yet the recovery, it seems, was only illusory, and the subsequent two chapters, "Despair (Gynocide)" and "The Three Beggars," depict the woman's shocking and abrupt regression into unbridled insanity, culminating with grotesque sexual violence against herself, gruesome acts of destruction against her husband, and an apocalyptic climax. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Flixster Users

55% liked it

24,912 ratings

Critics

48% liked it

154 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 44 min.

Directed by: Lars von Trier

Release Date: October 23, 2009

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: March 1, 2010

Stats: 3,702 reviews

report incorrect info

Photos

Antichrist antichrist Antichrist Antichrist Antichrist Antichrist antichrist Antichrist Antichrist Antichrist Antichrist a scene from Antichrist. a scene from Antichrist.
Upload a Photo | View All Antichrist Photos

Your Rating


clear rating

Flixster Reviews (3,702)

  • aquateen2
    May 7, 2012
    aquateen2
    [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/user/icons/icon14.gif[/img]

    Not much stuff happens in Antichrist but if you were to sum Lars Von Trier's misogynistic art house horror into one word, that word would be overwhelming. Some may ask the message he was trying to get ac... read moreross and it is difficult to figure out. But it is about nature being Satans Garden of Eden and the bringer of life being women also being the bringer of death. Antichrist shares a genetic heritage to the french cult horror film Posession in the way it portrays it's complete hatred for the female kind but visually it's beautiful rather than hateful. With some unforgettable scenery captured by Tier's masterful direction and breathtaking performances by Willem Dafoe and the under rated actress Charlotte Gainsbourg the film holds tightly together. It isn't a film for everyone, due to the squeamish nerve shredding sexual torture scenes but it's painfully powerful stuff, as some scenes are so intense you may remember them forever. I know I will.
  • fb1378820053
    May 3, 2012
    fb1378820053
    As stated by Mark Kermode the brief explanation of the film is how you will react to it, Some People may Find it a thought provocative, Beautiful film while other will just think it's a typical horror filled with explicit sex and Highly Gruesome violence. I Found it a bit of both... read more while "Antichrist" is beautifully shot and Brilliantly acted by both "William Dafoe and "Charlotte Gainsbourg" it starts off well but at the end it just feels like all Lars Von Trier is trying to do is fit in as many controversial scenes as possible, the film is complicated and at times awfully boring however what Antichrist has turned out to be is one of the most talked controversial films to ever be released from Mainstream Cinema. Which is what the director attended and succeed with.
  • LoughnerWasLucid
    January 9, 2012
    LoughnerWasLucid
    21 Grams. Pet Semitary. Don't Look Now. Rabbit Hole. Monster's Ball. Antichrist. The greatest family films... for the whole family!
  • MrMarakai
    November 19, 2011
    MrMarakai
    By his own admittance, director Lars Von Trier's intention with this film was not exactly how it turned out. He tried to turn his hand at making a genre horror film. Much like trying to make a musical with "Dancer in the Dark", he can't help but imbue it with his usual intelligen... read morece and artistic flourishes that take it beyond a mere genre picture. Von Trier doesn't quite do genre.
    After the accidental death of their child, a therapist (Willem Dafoe) and his wife (Charlotte Gainsbourg) - listed in the credits only as "He" and "She" - retreat to a cabin in the perhaps haunted woods to recover. Eventually, they turn savagely on each other and bloody mayhem ensues.
    There are many similarities with this and Von Trier's most accessible film to date "Melancholia". Not only in the exploration of mental illness in his leading female character but also in his recurrent theme of despair and chaos and his strikingly stylish, slow-motion prologue and use of music. Has Von Trier settled on a particular style now? If so, it's a style that will serve him well. During the making of this, the director was himself suffering from depression (which was further explored in "Melancholia") and it shows. You can see his understanding of the isolation of mental health not to mention the false hope in any saviour from it. This is brilliantly portrayed by two exceptionally brave performances from his actors. Gainsbourg in particular delivers one of the most daring pieces of acting since Harvey Keitel in "Bad Lieutenant". The subject matter may be one that would be overlooked come awards season but she was certainly deserving of recognition. It's a stunningly shot film with atmosphere and creepiness in abundance and disturbing images of the cruelty of nature. In some ways, Von Trier's realisation reminded me of dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch and his fantastical paintings. In particular, Bosch's most famous "The Garden of Earthly Delights" which depicts Adam and Eve in a wondrous garden before descending to Hell where punishments are handed out for sinners. The fact that Von Trier has his characters' unravelling in a remote place called 'Eden' further fuels this.
    Be warned, there are brutal and unbearable violent scenes, that I'm surprised the censors overlooked. However, it's still an extraordinary, surreal and highly provocative journey. Just another day at the office for Lars Von Trier then...
  • aSpaceCowboy
    November 8, 2011
    aSpaceCowboy
    This movie marks the 100th film I've seen released in the year 2009. Being the film that marks such a special ocassion why don't I take the time to review the independent phenomenon that has received a creditable cult follow and found it's way into the Criterion Collection's libr... read moreary. This is... Antichrist.
  • emilebond007
    November 7, 2011
    emilebond007
    As much as Lars Con Trier has total control on his own visual style, Antichrist is a movie that is very hard to appreciate because there isn't an once of respect in any of its frames; none for the characters and none for the viewer. However, for the ones who will be able to put t... read morehat aside, it is a piece of art that is completely astounding and so disturbing that it's almost thrilling. If it wasn't for Trier's unique and visionary style, the film would still be worth the watch for the performance of its two actors, especially from the unbelievable Gainsbourg.
  • FilmFanatik
    August 16, 2011
    FilmFanatik
    My original thoughts upon my first viewing of Lars von Trier's Antichrist were positive, but something was holding me back critically and I didn't quite understand why at the time. With further viewings, I've been picking up on more layers of themes and how masterfully the film i... read mores all put together. In other words, I think I can be much more positive about it this time around without any lingering ambiguity. What's great about the film is that while it does raise a lot of questions in your mind while you watch it (and after), you can walk away from it with a multitude of different perspectives - all depending on what you take away from it personally. Is it a simple pscyhological horror tale about a woman losing her mind over the death of her son, or is it just a template for viewer interpretation and applicability that likely comes off as pretentious? The response is totally up to you, but I prefer to examine the questions that it raises in my mind about it, rather than simply settling on one solitary viewpoint. I can't say that I completely understood it when I first saw it, and today I can't say that I still totally understand it. But for some reason, not only am I drawn to it but I'm fascinated by it. It's quite a beautifully-shot esoteric masterpiece that truly is a work of modern art (which likely has a lot to do with it). It disturbs me somewhere deep down in my soul, but I can't look away. Despite the graphic shots of nudity and gore peppered throughout with some mind-bending images that will never go away, I prefer to think of it as simply a thought-provoking work - one that will have you pondering its meaning long after you've seen it. Be forewarned though, this film has divided its viewers in half - you either love it or hate it, and for some sadistic reason, I've grown to love it. Chaos reigns.
  • fb100001050230219
    August 15, 2011
    fb100001050230219
    Lars Von Trier's gruesome horror film definitely pushes the boundaries of the genre and proves pretty unique. Unfortunately, unlike say, The Tree of Life, it is an ambitious film that falls flat a lot of the time. It proves a pretty hollow experience throughout and left me cold a... read moret the end. It doesn't give us a reason to care about the things that happen to He and She and half way through I didn't care anymore about what occured. That said, it does feature beautiful cinematography and a brave performance from Charlotte Gainsbourg. ''Antichrist'' ultimately does prove an insane movie-watching experience and one of the craziest I've seen, but as a film itself it doesn't really work.
  • groaningbitch
    July 21, 2011
    groaningbitch
    i watched this with the anticipation that it would be boring, but i was also extremely curious why its viewrs are separated into bipolarization, the loather and the lover. also, i have seen two people doing presentations on this movie in two conferences. thus, i assume i would ju... read morest give a look to see whether it really has something to say or it's just another incomprehesible avant-gardist work which projects a pretentious air of pround-ness, but by actuality, just a self-indulgent work which is not meant to be understood by anyone but the author himself (lars von trier)...and it turns out to be the former.

    lars von trier has a really convulted way of story-telling in his cinematic style, but my purpose here is to elucidate. therefore, i just depict the movie's story-time (the actual event in linear order..narrative time is how the story is told, the way it is presented in the movie): a woman, whose husband is psychoanalyst, has her child fall from the window and killed during lovemaking with her husband because she doesn't stop from sex to keep the infant from moving toward the window. after the tragedy, her sanity is teetering on the borderline of hysteria and she internalizes this sense of guilt with the content of the academic dissertation she was working on while the child was still alive. the dissertation is about gendercide (mass killings on women in 16th century) which is inclined to believe that the essence of woman is evil and woman-kind should be eradicated for the sake of human goodness. hence, this woman inflicted with hysteria deteriorates into raging paranoia while her psychoanalyst husband is striving to treat her himself by bringing her into the woods which is the fountainhead of her fear. her conditions decline according to the chronic stages of gender-cide mythology: grief, pain and despair. at last, she even performs the sadomasochistic gimmicks she acquires from the researches she's made upon her husband and herself. her madness eventually becomes so repulsively compelling that her psychoanalyst husband has to slaughter her himself and torch her corpse in flaming fire just to rinse off these nightmarish memories within the forest, a.k.a. nature as the church of satan.

    SPOILER: she even uses a scissor to chop off her clitoris.

    the movie is a mockery toward psychoanalysis, which has been criticized as phallocentric, a discourse composed by man, a methodology to evaluate the patients through a male-centered perspective. one notable notion about perverse killings in the realm of psychoanalysis is, that man inflicts the violence in the eye of THE OTHER (any form of god, an abstract form omnipotent gazer) upon others while woman inflicts violence upon herself in the eye of the other (any bystander who witnesses her cruety against herself). "antichrist" is a parody toward this gendering notion within psychoanalysis, which is deemed by some as misogynism. the other, in the case of "antichrist", is the husband. in one scene, she requests him to hit her during sex, then the couple wind up fornicating in the wild while lots of ghastly hands and tree branches occur simultaneously to fabricate an eerie image. she needs him to be there to witness her violence against herself, and his eventual eradication of the mad wife is committed under the gaze of THE OTHER. from this aspect, it is my belief that lars von trier must be amateurish enthusiast for psychoanalysis, and he illustrates those psychoanalytic ideas through cinematic visuals in the deranged sequence of the mind of schizophreniac patients.

    within the binary opppositions of genders, in other words, the essentialist perception of genders, woman represents nature while man stands for culture. in the case of film noir, femme fatale occupies the position of culture while the good woman who redeems the noir anti-hero posits in the spot of nurturing nature. just observe some scenes in classic noir, femme fatale always appears in the urban surroundings like night-clubs and public lounges. that is to say, woman shouldn't infiltrate into the realm of man, which is culture, and woman with culture is dangerously phallic as she might do harm unto the man as well as herself. but in the case of "antichrist", the evil of femininity is located within the nature while the man as the psychoanalyst, surely represents the culture. it erases the dichotomic demarcations within the stereotypes of good and bad femininities by generalizing that all woman-kind is derived from nature and nature is evil (church of satan). furthermore, sexually unbridled woman is hazardous just as nature without human appropriation is perilous, such as typhoon, earthquake, tsunami..etc. during this film, the woman conducts herself like a sex maniac who utilizes sex as alleviator at the paramount of her delirium. that symbolizes the foresight of an upcoming disaster once nature is running amok without the endeavorments of human moderations. in their last sex, she even attempts to cripple him, and the blood semen ejaculated from the wounded man in coma is the expellant gush of death. ejaculated semen during sex, by its archaic meaning, means life because each sex bears the potentiality of producing a life. onanism creates no life, and the woman maneuvers to induce from the man in the action of hand-sex is no essence of life. on the contrary, it's the essence of death.

    does anyone who's seen it understand the metaphor of the last scene in the movie? in my comprehesion, the man plucks a plant filled with buds (i don't know how to describe the term correctly), and he gazes it in wonderments. then a group of young girl emerge from the hillside to leave him in perplexion. the plant of buds is the metaphor of seed-bearing matrix. after he finally murders his wife, in the moment of his foremost disgust with womankind, females just appear all around him to leave him dumbfound within the maze of nature. that means, you simply could not escape this ubiquitious existence of womankind, if you consider the female as evil, the essence of evil shall flow all around you to put you into perennial state of incessant nightmares.

    (ps) i laughed when i read from pamel d, whose review says stuff like who wants to see nudity of willaim dafoe and charlotte gainsbourg, and she demeans roger ebert for praising the bravery in sex scenes of anitchrist while underrating isabella rosellini in blue velvet. my feelings after finally seeing antichrist is: i think both blue velvet and antichrist are good in different ways, and david lynch is a comparatively more glamorous by style and he favors to use really good-looking women as his femme fatales and his sex scenes are always disturbingly enjoyable. i do agree, ebert underrates blue velvet. but i must admit gainsbourge's sacrifice is bigger because who would really think this woman is sexy after watching this?! (cutting off clitoris, give me a break, i wanna puke) she's somehow a much much less glamorous woman by comparison with rosellini, and she destorys the last possible bit of feminine charm by uglifying herself even more! i assume, most people. after watching blue velvet, would consider isabella rosellini very sensual and alluring, goddess of sex to some, but no one would really think like that after antichrist (if you do, you might have a problem. lol.)

    in my opinion, i consider the sex in antichrist is meant to be disgusting, and that's why trier casts william dafoe and charlotte gainsbourge to de-eroticize sex!!! it's meant to be un-sexy, repulsive, appalling and completely a turn-off! if the sex looks tasty, you might not wanna think of any of those metaphoric conceptualizations within this picture after being so mesmerized by the sex.
  • sergioogarcia
    July 15, 2011
    sergioogarcia
    It is a very disturbing movie. Rated R, no doubt about it. Psycho-horror is the right genre I believe. I personally loved the art conception, photography and the soundtrack. The story is very weird and keeps you in suspense through REALLY disturbing scenes. The acting is amazing ... read moreand portraits a different conception of Hell. We are indeed evil by nature. However, some of the scenes involving the fox, deer and crow seems out of place. Is different for sure. I recommend it but PLEASE: No kids (sex, violence, disturbing images)

View All Antichrist Reviews

Critic Reviews

Bill Goodykoontz
January 29, 2010
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic

Of course, von Trier wants us to react, to be repulsed, shocked, offended. Mission accomplished. Full Review

Christopher Kelly
November 20, 2009
Christopher Kelly, Dallas Morning News

Antichrist is a unique form of cruel and unusual punishment: an unrelenting orgy of graphic sex, violence and cynicism that also manages to be wildly pretentious. Full Review

Tom Long
November 13, 2009
Tom Long, Detroit News

Self-loathing, mean, ugly and perfectly made, Antichrist is probably the best film ever that you'd recommend to absolutely no one. Full Review

Peter Howell
November 13, 2009
Peter Howell, Toronto Star

Antichrist ends up being more unnerving than it is terrifying, and a lot funnier than it's supposed to be. Full Review

Colin Covert
November 12, 2009
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

To watch the Danish provocateur's new film is to experience unrelenting pain, shading into revulsion, while being inspired by his virtuoso command of the medium and sharp intelligence. Full Review

Lisa Kennedy
November 6, 2009
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post

Von Trier and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle use sumptuous black-and-white photography and saturated color. Few movies are as beautifully wrought as this. Full Review

Steven Rea
October 30, 2009
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

What is Von Trier trying to say? Full Review

David Edelstein
October 26, 2009
David Edelstein, New York Magazine

Von Trier has said he wanted to make a genre horror picture, but he couldn't even come up with a decent metaphor: The climax is out of a Grade C hack-'em-up with people chasing each other through the ... Full Review

Joe Neumaier
October 23, 2009
Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News

Artfully horrific but artificial and soulless. Full Review

A.O. Scott
October 23, 2009
A.O. Scott, New York Times

The scandal of Antichrist is not that it is grisly or upsetting but that it is so ponderous, so conceptually thin and so dull.

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Cast

More Like This

Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

  • The Exorcist
    The Exorcist (92%)
  • The Dead Girl
    The Dead Girl (98%)
  • Breaking the Waves
    Breaking the Waves (97%)
  • The Last House on the Left
    The Last House on the Left (0%)

More Movies like Antichrist

Facts

Submit a Fact | View All
    • She: Chaos reigns.
    • He: The thoughts distort reality, not the other way around.
    • She: A crying woman is a scheming woman.
    • She: When the three beggars arrive someone must die.
    • He: Is there any woods in particular? [pause]
    • She: Eden.
    • He: Grief is not a disease. It's a natural healthy reaction.
Submit a Fact | View All

Antichrist : Watch Free on TV

Antichrist Trivia

  • in which movie was the line

    'well i think youre the fuckin antichrist'  Answer »
  • I've hunted the great white whale, been a Nazi scientist, parented the antichrist and fought racial prejudice in the court - who am I?  Answer »
  • The story tells of the childhood of Damien Thorn, who was switched at birth with the murdered child of a wealthy American diplomat. Damien's family is unaware that he is actually the offspring of Satan and destined to become the Antichrist. who plays damien's dad?  Answer »
  • Which actor has played both the Pope and the Antichrist, both in 1981?  Answer »
More Antichrist Trivia

Movie Quizzes

No quizzes for Antichrist. Want to create one?

Video Clips

Upload a Video |

All Antichrist Videos

Meet Other Fans

Add Antichrist to favorites

Recent News

Submit a Story |

View Antichrist News

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

No skins yet. Interested in creating one?