When I first heard of Antichrist I heard that it was really disturbing, brutal, and possibly the most misogynistic movie around. Now I really cant say whether or not this holds true as the movie presents the whole "women are a conduit for evil" thing in a way that is less like women being evil and more that this woman was. And its less an "evil" thing and more that she brainwashed herself into a self hating psychopath. Though we do see quite a few unexplainable "evil" or supernatural happenings, the thing is part of the movie has to do with reality versus perception. Are we seeing what is real or are we seeing what she feels is real and by proxy what he sees also?
Like I said, its a stretch to say this movie is purely misogynistic because the problem comes about with our star woman trying to eradicate misogyny only to become brainwashed by the very works she sought to destroy and embrace the idea. I guess it could be conceived that in giving up her ideal and embracing the problem only proves the idea, but you have to realize she is the only woman painted in this manner, and on top of this, she is batshit insane. She just watched her son fall to his death as she was having sex. The doctor had her on medication to stabilize her, but her husband (being a psychologist) took her off them and tried (repeat: tried) to take her through her problems naturally, but they proved to much for her and she broke.
So enough of that stuff. Lets sorta get onto the movie. What we have here is the story of a couple who witnesses the tragedy of their sons death, their pain, and how they deal with it. As they have sex, their son climbs from his crib and walks about the house. A window blew open near a table and the child decided he wanted to see the snow outside. He falls from the windowsill to his death, his parents none the wiser until they had finished copulating, after which, they frantically search the house for him only to discover the grisly scene of his sprawled out, battered body lying on the pavement below. This sends the wife into a suicidal depression and the father into a purely stoic state.
The doctors treat the wife and put her on a regimen of medication to keep her safe and stable, but the father thinks all of that is unnecessary. Being a psychologist, he thinks that she should work through her problems naturally in order to actually get over them instead of hiding behind the effects of the drugs. He takes her off of the meds and begins his own therapy with her. He takes her through the grieving state, helping her, loving her, but always treating her not as his wife but as his patient. When she reaches the anxiety state, he delves further into her problems, asking her what causes her fear. She finally pinpoints it as "the woods" but more specifically a getaway cabin of theirs in a place they call "Eden".
As part of her therapy, the husband decides that she needs to go to Eden to face her fears. To see that there is nothing there to be afraid of. They enjoy a nice hike through the forest until they come upon what marks the beginning of Eden, the bridge across the brook. As she crosses, panic rushes over her, her feet burn, she feels pain, so she runs. Through the woods, disappearing fast from her husbands sight. He doesn't worry, he just walks. He takes his time, enjoys the beautiful scenery, and finally arrives at the cabin. His wife cheated herself, she shouldn't have ran, she should have taken the time to feel the fear, to face it head on, but she ran. He finds her huddled in the cabin, tomorrow they begin her exercises.
The more time they spend in Eden, the better she gets. She faces the grass, seeing that it will not burn her, that its just grass. She deals with the sound of the acorns beating on the cabins roof, finding that its not futility or death, but just the nature of things. And she finds that what she feared most, nature, was simply that. But after she "gets better" or gets over her fear of nature, she lets it consume her. She buys into all the literature she read about how women are evil, uncontrollable, unpredictable. She finds that she wasn't scared of nature, she was scared of herself. Mother Nature. In embracing this ideal, she spirals out of control. Letting go and letting her emotions and thoughts run wild. She decides that her husband is going to leave her, and she cannot have this.
In truth, her husband simply worries about her. He finds pictures of when her and their son spent the last summer in Eden. She went to study the books and write her thesis against them and it was at this time that whatever happened to make her fear Eden happened. She snapped. She let the books indoctrinate her, she became self hating, she decided that she was Mother Nature, she decided she was evil. She tortured her son, forcing him to wear his shoes on the wrong feet, twisting them, breaking them, trying to form them into hooves. The husband finds pictures of his son, shoes switched, feet crushed. He worries about his wives state, about how unstable she has become. But we know what she thinks. But what will she do?
Well, lets just say it involves a log, her husbands privates, a hand drill, a grindstone, a pair of scissors, and her ladybits. Really, its intense, its crazy, and with all the visions and hallucinations, its hard to keep track of reality. Bodies create the landscape, a deer with a stillborn, a fox eating itself, and a crow that wont die, and finally the husband lets go. He loses his grasp on his emotions. He loses that stoic nature. He gives in. Signifying that its not women that are evil, that are uncontrollable, but that all of us are. That nature and humanity all have a dark side. And that people just have a different amount of control over themselves.
Beh... arthouse, curse you for making me think. Also, quite possibly one of the most beautifully shot movies around.
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