Grief, Pain, Despair

Charlotte Gainsbourg as 'She' and Willem Dafoe as 'He' in ANTICHRIST directed by Lars von Trier. Courtesy of Trust Nodisk ApS. An IFC Films release

Trust Roger Ebert to get down to the heart of Antichrist. In his review, he writes:

We must begin by assuming that He and She are already at psychological tipping points. She has been doing research on witchcraft, and it leads her to wonder if women are inherently evil. That may cause her to devalue herself. He is a controlling, dominant personality, who I believe is moved by the traumatic death to punish the woman who delivered his child into the world.

That may be the single most intelligent thing I've seen written about this film, and it also answers the accusations of misogyny.

Ebert may have become much more forgiving in his more recent work, but still no one knows film like he does. In his best fashion, he has drawn attention to things I hadn't considered about the film before, which is what the best film criticism does.

His review is a must read. Don't miss it.