Five times Lars von Trier went too far
Standing as a monolithic figure on the European cinema scene, beloved for his thematic and visual prowess as a director but reviled for his relentless pursuit of provocation in his audiences, Lars von Trier is certainly one of the most controversial filmmakers to ever sit in the director’s chair.
Whether it’s his early works like Breaking the Waves and The Idiots or his ‘Depression Trilogy’, comprised of Melancholia, Antichrist and Nymphomaniac, the Danish film icon has unflinchingly confronted the darkest sides of the human experience and examined the most taboo social subjects.
His provocative approach to filmmaking often sees the use of controversial imagery and graphic and sexual violence, the likes of which cause a deeply upsetting effect on his viewers, especially those not familiar with his works. In that light, von Trier is indeed a master provocateur, although his reputation sometimes precedes his talent, leading to the contention that he provokes for its own sake rather than for any artistic merit.
With that in mind, there have been many times that von Trier has pushed his approach too far, leading to rifts with his actors, public outcries and several members of his audience actually leaving the screening unable to bear witness to his sick mind. So let’s run through five times the Danish filmmaker went a bit too far with his “art”.
Five times Lars von Trier went too far:
Animal cruelty
While violence and depravity are often the themes found in the many provocative and sometimes sickening works of von Trier, there’s absolutely no need for the kind of animal cruelty that he’s allowed to happen at certain points.
On Manderlay, a donkey was slaughtered for the dramatic purposes of the film, which led John C. Reilly to quit the production, even though the scene was deleted from the final cut of the film. PETA had actually praised The House That Jack Built for its realistic effects, but the Matt Dillon-starring movie also featured a scene in which a duckling is mutilated.
Getting naked for an orgy scene he wasn’t even in
Von Trier’s 1998 black comedy-drama The Idiots is yet another provocative work of the Danish director, this time focusing on a group of anti-bourgeois individuals who pretend to have learning difficulties to seek their “inner idiot” and thus free themselves from the shackles of societal expectation.
It’s another film of von Trier’s that features unstimulated sexual intercourse, and there’s a scene in which the “idiots” participate in an orgy, which is pretty tame for a von Trier film. But throw into the fact that the director himself was naked when shooting the scene, even though he wasn’t even in it, and it becomes yet another completely unnecessary and downright weird moment.
Filicide in The House That Jack Built
If there were ever a film to epitomise the polarising nature of von Trier’s works, then it was his 2018 psychological art horror movie The House That Jack Built, starring Matt Dillon as a confessional serial killer. At its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, over 100 audience members walked out, but those who stayed gave the film a ten-minute standing ovation.
There’s some serious graphic violence in The House That Jack Built, which brought about widespread criticism, but few moments were as harrowing as the one in which Jack kills both of his young sons and wife with a hunting rifle with all the affectlessness of watching daytime television. Von Trihard is naturally a provocateur, but this one just felt like a sheer instance of self-gratification and aggrandisement, as though to say, “Look how edgy I am”.
Female genital mutilation in Antichrist
If The House That Jack Built were full of graphic imagery, then von Trier’s 2009 art horror film Antichrist took the absolute piss. It tells of a married couple who, in the throes of trauma after their infant child dies accidentally, take a retreat to a woodland cabin where the man experiences bizarre hallucinations and the woman displays sadomasochistic behaviour.
Willem Dafoe getting his testicles smashed to bits and having his cock come blood is pretty light for this film because such horrific acts are completely overshadowed by poor Charlotte Gainsbourg actually cutting her clitoris off with a pair of scissors. While the imagery and symbolism certainly work, it was just a step too far for the Danish provocateur.
Sympathising with Adolf Hitler
Sometimes, that provocation hasn’t actually come within von Trier’s films, as the audience of his 2011 Melancholia Cannes Film Festival pre-premiere press talk found well. Sat next to the film’s star Kirsten Dunst, von Trier made the ridiculous claim of being a Nazi who “understands” Adolf Hitler.
“I thought I was a Jew for a long time and was very happy being a Jew,” the director began. “Then it turned out that I was not a Jew. I found out that I was really a Nazi which also gave me some pleasure. What can I say? I understand Hitler. He did some wrong things, absolutely, but I can see him sitting there in his bunker at the end… I sympathise with him, yes, a little bit.” He did later apologise, but this was just plain old ridiculous.
