Antichrist (2009)

Brutal, haunting, serene, and effectual. I think its funny how a lot of critics have charged Antichrist with misogyny just because, as far as i can tell, it invokes negative sexuality and the villain is a woman (flawlessly portrayed by Charlotte Gainsbourg). The movie, a case study in post-traumatic stress, follows a couple's journey of self-discovery after the accidental death of their toddler son. The Man (a psychiatrist played by Willem Dafoe), in a foolish display of chauvinism, attempts to "fix" his wife's fractured psyche by making her face her physical memories and anxiety triggers. The Woman, blaming herself entirely for the death, responds aggressively at first but soon breaks through to another level of self-hatred. The vanity-layer of blame hides her blame of sexuality and of her essential woman-hood. The Man, by breaking down her self-protection, draws out a sadistic monster. Sexually voracious and hyper-violent, she begins to attack The Man, evolving through various stages of sexuality, from emotional manipulation to rape to smashing his penis with a brick to stabbing him repeatedly, lets say penetrating him, with a shovel. The film expresses the dark sides of human sexuality in a very brutal, yet tasteful, way. It reverses the gender expectation of a film like this (see Don Cosacrelli's Masters of Horror episode Incident On and Off a Mountain Road) and the imagery is stark, natural, and, most importantly, alive. The woods, the cabin, the dead tree, the revenge animals, they are as much a character as The Man or The Woman and the pain, emotional and physical, feel so real. Not a horror film in the sense of this blog. Art.