Lars Von Trier

Started by Adam0199, March 19, 2003, 10:41:39 PM

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Robyn

during my amphetamine days it became a running joke among my friends that no one should mention Trier to me, I would just take the opposite viewpoint and argue about it for hours... he is so just so much fun to talk about and you can argue from any standpoint you want and still be right about it... he is a living paradox which he is aware of it. to quote his wife;

QuoteLars Trier's greatest achievement is Lars von Trier

the dude added "von" to his name when he was a kid to piss off his film teachers... that says it all, really. he is just creating this myth about himself. regarding what Pete said in the other thread, that we can't end the argument with "his work can't be misogynistic because he's a FEMINIST", I would say that it's the exact opposite. trier as a person seems to be a misogynistic idiot (I don't defend him as a human anymore, saying that he is a good person trying to be bad), but most of his films are feminist imo. I guess that's what makes him fascinating to people, it isn't black and white, his films contradicts themselves all the time which evokes debates. that's why he is a important filmmaker. he provokes in a way that makes people talk about issues that's important. that's the way you should do it.


Robyn


Jeremy Blackman

Rewatched Dancer In The Dark. It's a film I love deeply but rarely watch, for obvious reasons. But wow does it hold up. And I think I sort of see it through new eyes now. When I first saw Dancer I was still a teenager, and I think I was primarily excited by the irreverence and incongruity of the musical scenes. Now, I'm most affected by Bjork's explosive humanity. This could be the best performance ever committed to film. No joke. Bjork's scenes toward the end, where her singing is captured on set, are so insanely raw and so deeply real. Just on a whole other level.

(Big spoilers incoming...)

Time has also been very kind to the "Christ figure" theory. Let's take this chronologically:

1. Like Jesus, Selma came from humble beginnings. You might also say she has a couple followers.

2. She wants to heal others (her son) but knows she is doomed.

3. There is great mystery about her father, and he's kind of this mythical, nameless figure.

4. After the murder, Selma literally washes her hands of it in the river. Just a splash of religious symbolism, if you will.

5. When she's captured at theatre practice—"there's always someone to catch me... when I fall"— she falls backwards into the hands of the police in a Christlike pose with arms outstretched. They then carry her down the aisle and out the door as if carrying a cross.

6. During the trial and aftermath, Selma is completely selfless and basically does nothing to save herself. She attempts to go gracefully—"I am prepared."

7. While in her cell, she puts her ear to the air vent and hears what sounds like a chorus of angels. (She's told that she might be hearing the chapel, but... we know.)

8. As she is taken to die, she (in her fantasy) sympathetically interacts with the others who've been sentenced to death.

9. Selma is, of course, essentially crucified—restrained to a wooden board and hung.

10. Finally, in a shot that's much longer than I remember, the camera floats up, and up, and up, as Selma ascends to heaven. You could also interpret the white curtain being drawn as an entombment before her ascension.

polkablues

Genuinely the most emotionally harrowing movie I've ever seen.
My house, my rules, my coffee

Something Spanish

Hadn't thought about this in the longest, still remember the feeling of seeing it for the first time in theaters: gutted. At the time easily one of the most painfully draining movies i'd seen, little did I know about a month later I'd watch Requiem in a movie theater and not be able to leave until an usher suggested to get the fuck out.

Not sure if I have the emotional strength to sit through this again. Weirdly dug the soundtrack, even without being a Bjork-er.

Interesting points there, JB.

Alethia

Quote from: Jeremy Blackman on August 18, 2019, 01:54:40 AM
10. Finally, in a shot that's much longer than I remember, the camera floats up, and up, and up, as Selma ascends to heaven. You could also interpret the white curtain being drawn as an entombment before her ascension.

I always liked that the camera literally goes "through the roof" exactly as she describes earlier in the film, at the very point where she said she would always get up and leave, so it would just "go on forever...".

jenkins

that's a good reminder about that movie jb, think ill cruise back to it soonish

i was in this conversation with a person talking about the sadness of dancer in the dark but i kept mentioning breaking the waves by accident. i haven't seen either of them in a long while but always think of breaking the waves as his saddest movie. is dancer sadder? are they equal?

jenkins

it was the kind of thing where i'd forgotten all about it except i remembered it as it was happening

i think it's interesting how one's memory can work like that

this movie is so extra

it's too much

even the camera is anxious

it sort of encapsulates the burdensome Gen X mentality

clearly that was a mentality that needed levity

i did really like the musical performances

and Bjork's performance

except also it's hard for me to say that the apparent irl damage to Bjork was worth this movie

they called it emotional porn even back then didn't they

i think i was on the movie's side back then, was like "nuh-uh this is reality"

but now that i'm older it's definitely emotional porn

it's so harrowing she's jesus christ?

jesus christ

i won't be rushing back to Breaking the Waves and i'm not sure which is sadder

i will say that i don't know how this particular movie could be any better made

like it's not like i think this movie could be made better

Alethia

Out of the Shoutbox and into the Director's Chair


PinkTeeth

New Name, Same Typos.

WorldForgot

Quote from: jenkins on December 20, 2020, 12:22:32 PM
you guys aren’t alone with your Dancer in the Dark fondness and it’s not as if i can’t imagine why. it’s not even in my top three LvT but that’s not a real life problem
Me neither and
Thankfully it's the opposite of a problem cuz this provocateur, mutherfuckin' prankster decided to really push his approach to the medium with each film -- and in owning eras of his personality has also had cycles of aesthetic that sometimes supersede how the thematic content hits. A wide swath of approach for any director.

Re-reading the Antichrist thread on this forum iz a blast.

jenkins

yeah he is something special. if he was just a florida resident that'd be one thing, but he's globally accomplished. he provokes people across the planet and not a lot of provocative people can provoke more than like a hundred people you know

i adore The Boss of it All but just for kicks really. the truly questionable one is Epidemic i think. i'd have to rewatch it

Robyn

-"What do you do with the new Kingdom?"
-"There's all kinds of bad taste and splatter. Everythings there's. It's bad taste. That's important for me"


Drenk

He has Parkinson?  :yabbse-sad: He looked particularly down in the interviews for The House that Jack Built.
Ascension.

Robyn

Side effects due to medictions, he has said.

He talks about The Kingdom as "the last film" and not the next one in line. Maybe this is it for him.