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

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningfagfællebedømt

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.
Bidragets oversatte titelAt frigøre (sig fra) mors begær: om Lars von Triers Antichrist
OriginalsprogSvensk
TidsskriftDivan.Tidsskrift för psykoanalys och kultur
Udgave nummer3-4
Sider (fra-til)69-78
Antal sider10
ISSN1101-1408
StatusUdgivet - dec. 2010

    Forskningsområder

  • Det Humanistiske Fakultet - Lars von Trier, psykoanalytisk filmanalyse , Urscene, dødsdrift, Jacques Lacan, tragedie, allegori

ID: 32315578