Lars von Trier is perhaps the most controversial director of our times. His films have been banned by countries, panned by critics, booed upon at Cannes. He has been called a sadist, a masochist, a depressed maniac and a misogynist. His latest debacle at Cannes 2011 has earned him the wrath of the festival organizers and resulted in his ban from the festival itself. A simple search of the net would get one innumerable articles describing what a horrible person he is. But, one thing that even his worst critics accept is that he is a bold film-maker.
I don't use the term 'bold' here in the sense that many of our actresses use it for, although his films often show unsimulated sex as well. By bold, I refer to the themes he explores and the techniques he uses to present them. I am a great admirer of his films. I don't know what kind of a person he is, but he certainly is not a misogynistic film maker. He is one of the very few male directors who has made multiple films with a powerful female lead. I have not seen all of his films, but of those which I have seen, 4 films have female leads who have more powerful roles than the male. Let me make my case with two of those four films, briefly here.
Breaking the Waves
The story here is as unusual as the presentation, which is almost a norm for von Trier. It tells the story of a 'simple minded' Scottish woman and her unwavering love for a man. The woman, Bess, played by Emily Watson, is somewhat mentally challenged. She falls in love with a man, Jan, played by Stellan Skarsgård, who seems to love her just as devotedly. They get married and soon, tragedy strikes. In an accident, Jan injures his spinal cord and is paralyzed. Bess believes this to be her fault, as Jan was away at an oil rig when the accident happened and Bess was praying for him to return soon. She sees this as god's punishment to her for being selfish. Ridden with guilt, she asks Jan to forgive her. Now this is where the film becomes twisted. Jan realizes that he would probably never be able to move much again and he asks Bess to have sex with strangers and tell him about her encounters. Bess gives in to his wishes and starts having sporadic sexual encounters with various people. This includes her advances to Jan's doctor, who turns her down and gradually seems to fall in love with her. She even starts to believe that this would somehow help Jan to recover quicker. She is shunned by the community and Jan seems to be the only one who is blind to the hurt this is causing her. In the end, she goes to a boat where she is brutally raped and she dies of the injuries.
The whole film is shot with hand-held cameras and is partially a Dogme 95 film. Extreme simplicity in presentation is maintained throughout.
It's easy to see why many consider this to be a rather misogynistic topic. But when watching it, I kept wondering, is it possible that Jan's motive in asking Bess to do this was not entirely sadistic, but rather a misguided attempt to do some good? I think that when Jan realized he is going to be paralyzed for the rest of his life, he decided that Bess should move on. Knowing Bess's blind devotion to him, it would have been impossible to convince her to leave his bedside. So, Jan devised this plan with the hope that she would meet someone special, who would truly love her. And she does. The doctor loves Bess as earnestly as possible. Only Bess is too focused on healing Jan (or so she believes) to find time to love him back.
I know that my interpretation is not the only one, or perhaps not even the most popular one. But any way I look at it, Breaking the Waves is not a misogynistic film as it actually shows the simplicity of the woman.
Dancer in the Dark
Now this is a film that can not possibly be interpreted as misogynistic, no matter what! It's the story of a young woman immigrant in USA who works in a factory. She works hard and her life revolves around her son. We learn that the woman, played by the singer Björk, has an eye disease which is slowly leading her to blindness. The tragedy of the tale is that her son has also got the disease and unless treated soon, would go blind in time, just like her.
This is a hardcore melodrama, but presented with such shocking honesty that one can't help but get sucked into the film. The style is again very Dogme 95 and minimalist. The songs are shot like a typical 'movie' shoots as against the 'home video' feel of the rest of the film. This makes them serve the same purpose that sentences in parentheses do in a prose. The desperation of the woman and her helplessness at realizing how crooked the world really is, strikes the viewer like a sledge hammer. The end of the film is one of the most disturbing shots I have seen. Gets me every time.
The other two films I have seen with incredibly power female leads are Dogville with Nicole Kidman in the lead and Antichrist with Charlotte Gainsbourg. Dogville is perhaps the most radically shot film I have seen, with an almost empty sound stage as the set of the small town. Antichrist is arguably the most misogynistic of all of his films, but even in that, what he really shows is the evil within all human beings, not just women. Also, from what I have heard, Melancholia has two female leads, so that raises the count to 5!
I didn't write this piece to show my support for von Trier. He doesn't need that. I wrote it to merely present my views on his films. I love his films and frankly, I don't care what kind of a person he is. Like they say, art and artist are two separate entities and must be treated so!
I know that my interpretation is not the only one, or perhaps not even the most popular one. But any way I look at it, Breaking the Waves is not a misogynistic film as it actually shows the simplicity of the woman.
Dancer in the Dark
Now this is a film that can not possibly be interpreted as misogynistic, no matter what! It's the story of a young woman immigrant in USA who works in a factory. She works hard and her life revolves around her son. We learn that the woman, played by the singer Björk, has an eye disease which is slowly leading her to blindness. The tragedy of the tale is that her son has also got the disease and unless treated soon, would go blind in time, just like her.This is a hardcore melodrama, but presented with such shocking honesty that one can't help but get sucked into the film. The style is again very Dogme 95 and minimalist. The songs are shot like a typical 'movie' shoots as against the 'home video' feel of the rest of the film. This makes them serve the same purpose that sentences in parentheses do in a prose. The desperation of the woman and her helplessness at realizing how crooked the world really is, strikes the viewer like a sledge hammer. The end of the film is one of the most disturbing shots I have seen. Gets me every time.
The other two films I have seen with incredibly power female leads are Dogville with Nicole Kidman in the lead and Antichrist with Charlotte Gainsbourg. Dogville is perhaps the most radically shot film I have seen, with an almost empty sound stage as the set of the small town. Antichrist is arguably the most misogynistic of all of his films, but even in that, what he really shows is the evil within all human beings, not just women. Also, from what I have heard, Melancholia has two female leads, so that raises the count to 5!
I didn't write this piece to show my support for von Trier. He doesn't need that. I wrote it to merely present my views on his films. I love his films and frankly, I don't care what kind of a person he is. Like they say, art and artist are two separate entities and must be treated so!
