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Von Trier depressed; Antichrist left waiting

 

I’d just watched Lars von Trier’s “The Boss of It All” (it opens locally May 25), which is almost Capraesque in its idealism and optimism, at least compared to the Danish director's other perversely nihilistic, black comic works. So I was surprised to learn that the notorious eccentric and prankster had suffered a paralyzing bout of depression so bad that he might quit directing.

It reminds me of Krzysztof Kieslowski’s announcing his retirement from filmmaking back in 1995. Except most people believed him. Turns out he was so true to his resolution that he dropped dead  shortly afterwards of a heart attack.

Von Trier, however, is another story. Peter Bradshaw in his "Guardian" blog expresses doubts. He also points out his reservations about Von Trier’s claims that he shot “Boss” in “Automatovision,” without a cameraman and totally by computer, accounting for its jerky, jump-cutting narrative. Von Trier also claims that the continuity mistakes one can spot in the film actually are a hidden code. Maybe that code will explain whether this depression is real or not, or what it means. Or maybe it’s all a bunch of crap.

Publicity, perhaps, for his next project, “Antichrist,” in which he ponders the possibility that the creator of the world is not God, but Satan. (So the world might be a Von Trier production?)

 “I assume ‘Antichrist' will be my next movie,” Von Trier says. “But right now I don’t know.”

Too bad Frank Capra isn’t alive to fill in.




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1 Comments

  • jojo said:

    Here is an article from ScreenDaily where Zentropa's co-founder dismisses the report about LvT stopping making films :

    Story

    Zentropa expands beyond Danish homeland

    Geoffrey Macnab in Cannes

    19 May 2007 04:26

    Denmark’s flagship film company Zentropa is cutting many ties to its homeland with founder Lars Von Trier in talks to shift his next film abroad.

    In Cannes, company boss Peter Aalbeck Jensen told Screen that the company he and Von Trier founded it will be opening further facilities in Sweden where it has long been supported by regional fund Film I Vast.

    Zentropa is also in advanced negotiations with a regional fund to set up Von Trier’s planned English-language horror film Antichrist in Germany.

    “The financing systems in Sweden and Germany are much better. There is no reason for us to be with so much activity in Denmark,” Aalbeck Jensen commented.

    The Zentropa boss acknowledged that the Danish Government provides strong support of the Danish film industry. “But it is not geared to a company like us. It is geared to a smaller two or three person company.”

    Trust Film Sales will remain at Zentropa’s base at Filmbyen in Copenhagen.

    Danish Film Institute chief executive Henning Camre was striking a phlegmatic note about Zentropa’s plans to leave Denmark. “They are pretty European in their thinking,’ he said. “I don’t see it as a problem. It is a more healthy way to attract co-productions.”

    Meanwhile, Jensen dismissed recent reports in the Danish press that Von Trier has been left unable to work by depression.

    “He (Von Trier) has been depressed since he was seven years old. He is always depressed between two films. I was having a dinner with him Saturday where I promise you he was alive and kicking.”

    The Zentropa boss suggested that Von Trier was unlikely to complete the trilogy begun with Dogville and Manderlay. However, he predicted that Antichrist will be as provocative as any of Von Trier’s films and that “it will probably make a riot down here in the Croisette, like always.”

    "Dans la vie, il faut regarder par la fenêtre"

    Eugène Ionesco

    May 20, 2007 3:09 PM

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