Att frigöra (sig från) moderns begär: om Lars von Triers Antichrist

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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 contributionAt frigøre (sig fra) mors begær: om Lars von Triers Antichrist
Original languageSwedish
JournalDivan.Tidsskrift för psykoanalys och kultur
Issue number3-4
Pages (from-to)69-78
Number of pages10
ISSN1101-1408
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2010

    Research areas

  • Faculty of Humanities - Lars von Trier, Psychoanalytic film analysis, primaeval scene, death wish, Jacques Lacan, tragedy, allegory

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