Abstract
This article is an analysis of Lars von Trier’s Antichrist (2009). In spite of the line of the female character in the film, “Freud is dead”, I argue that the film is thoroughly congenial with psychoanalysis in its opening primal scene and in its dream-like aesthetics, turning the characters into representations of one consciousness that could be seen as the little son’s. As I see the film it is as much about a son dealing with the sexuality of his parents (looking much like murder) as about a man and a woman dealing with the loss of their son. Thus the opening scene in a remarkable way transforms the primal scene, the child witnessing his parents’coïtus, into something liberating, perhaps the son’s liberation from maternal desire. Based on Lacan’s understanding of Antigone, I argue that the film is a tragedy, situated in a universe “between two deaths”. Furthermore I show the film’s universe to be the baroque and allegorical universe of a nature radically separated from God and its “anti-christianism” to reside in its depiction of nature as unredeemed as well as in its turning upside down not only the myth of Christ, but also the myth of Oedipus.
| Translated title of the contribution | At frigøre (sig fra) mors begær: om Lars von Triers Antichrist |
|---|---|
| Original language | Swedish |
| Journal | Divan.Tidsskrift för psykoanalys och kultur |
| Issue number | 3-4 |
| Pages (from-to) | 69-78 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| ISSN | 1101-1408 |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2010 |
Keywords
- Faculty of Humanities
- Lars von Trier
- Psychoanalytic film analysis
- primaeval scene
- death wish
- Jacques Lacan
- tragedy
- allegory