When I read that Danish filmmaker Lars Von Trier is too depressed to work, I did a sort of mental double-take. Weren’t his movies all really, really depressing? How much more depressed could he be? And if he wasn’t depressed in the first place, what was his problem?
Remember “Breaking the Waves?” I personally couldn’t stand it, and went to bed in the middle of it. I could hear the main character screaming in anguish for what seemed like hours. I think it was a gang rape scene. Then there was “Dancing in the Dark”, which was way too weird to even consider watching. That’s the one where Bjork is going blind or something. Then there was “Dogville.” That one was actually pretty compelling, the one where Nicole Kidman ends up wearing a dog collar and is abused by a whole town.
Now I find that the depression announcement could be the director’s idea of a joke. He likes to fuck with people, apparently. He told reviewers that one of his movies was filmed in Automatovision, using randomly generated camera shots. In another movie, he invites a real filmmaker to embark on an absurd project, and then films the guy freaking out. I’ve also just read an interview in which Lars reveals that he was brought up by communist nudists.
Lars, you are a funny one! I don’t believe you’re depressed. I think you’re promoting your next film, “Antichrist.” I just hope there’s not too much screaming in it.
I can’t even read about his movies without getting queasy. I have a suspicion he is just another closet woman-hater, like Neil LaBute or David Mamet.
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
Ha! thank you, Joaquim. xxoo