The Ipcress File & Funeral in Berlin

In the late ‘60s and early ‘70s Michael Caine was the man. Whether playing a spy, a lothario or a writer, Caine had an every-man quality that made his characters sympathetic. Terrence Stamp was hip and bohemian, Malcolm McDowell was young and cocky, but Michael Caine had a working-class cool. In a relatively short time Caine starred in some of the best British films of the era, including Get Carter, Pulp, The Italian Job, and Alfie.

Caine's first major starring role was as the downtrodden spy Harry Palmer in The Ipcress File (1965). The film is based on a 1962 novel of the same name by Len Deighton that was published shortly after the first Bond film, Dr. No, was released. The character of Harry Palmer is the anti-Bond. He lives in a small apartment, wears thick glasses, and is burdened and constrained by overwhelming bureaucracy. He is also not working undercover out of any sense of honor or love of adventure. Palmer was an army sergeant drafted into the intelligence service to work off his prison sentence for black marketeering.

In The Ipcress File a number of prominent Western scientists are being kidnapped and brainwashed. Their brilliant minds are being wiped clean before they are returned to their countries. Palmer is sent to find out who is behind this plot and immediately gets in trouble by calling for an unauthorized and unproductive raid and accidently shooting a CIA agent. Palmer does manage to find the only clue to what is happening to the scientists when he turns up a piece of audiotape marked "IPCRESS". He just needs to figure out what IPCRESS means and what it has to do with the brainwashed scientists.

Despite the very Bondian plot synopsis, The Ipcress File is not jet-setting spy film. This is a gloomy, leisurely paced film with gritty London locations and fistfights instead of exotic locales and high-tech gadgets. The intelligence service headquarters is an old, dingy office disguised as an employment bureau, not a glamorous historic government building. The office manager is an old crone many years away from ever having been an attractive Miss Moneypenny. All of these elements lend a more realistic atmosphere and capture the real type of grunt work involved in the spy game. This game is not played in tuxedoes while sipping martinis and playing craps. It is played in the shadows of back alleys by civil servants clad in old overcoats who are trying to make a living without getting a bullet in their back.

The Ipcress File is a spy procedural and not a spy adventure but there is subtle humor lurking within the details of these procedures. Palmer is overwhelmed with bureaucratic paperwork and every action or request requires triplicate T1-04s or a TX82. Amid the dry humor and procedural elements the film does include some subdued but tense action scenes and even a Manchurian Candidate style psychedelic brainwashing. The Ipcress File offers a nice, grim alternative to James Bond glitter and kicks off this spy series in fine fashion.

Also adapted from a Len Deighton novel, the second Harry Palmer film, Funeral in Berlin, followed one year later and repeats the same basic formula with a more intricately plotted cold war scenario. Caine returns as the reluctant spy caught up in the decidedly unexcotic machinations of the spy game. This time, Palmer is sent to the divided city of Berlin to assist with the defection of Colonel Stok, a Russian officer in charge of intelligence in East Berlin. After meeting Colonel Stok, Palmer doubts his sincerity about wanting to relocate to the west. However, Stok passes a test Palmer arranges to gauge his honesty, so plans are made to work with members of the Berlin underworld to sneak the general across the iron curtain.

In another reversal of the Bondian spy clichés, while in Berlin Palmer is also seduced by a beautiful woman named Samantha Steele. Rather than being the suave aggressor, Palmer is the passive partner in this exchange when he accepts a ride to a party from Samantha only to end up instead at her house for a more intimate get together. As with Colonel Stok, Palmer is suspicious of Samantha and he gradually discovers that her secrets are also connected to his mission in Berlin.

In addition to being a reluctant rather than predatory ladies man, Caine's Palmer is also not a cold-blooded killer. At one point he is not only given a license to kill but is ordered to kill, and he refuses to let his government turn him into a hired assassin. The person he is told to kill is far from innocent but Palmer disobeys his orders because he will not let himself be turned into a murderer.

Everyone has something to hide in this film, and the maneuvers and double crosses play out in amid the grim, authentic cold war atmosphere of Berlin. The action again develops slowly and although it lacks some of the humor of The Ipcress File, the plot and locations of Funeral in Berlin make this the better of the first two Harry Palmer movies. Both films are genre-bending spy movies offering a refreshing portrait of the workaday life of a secret agent navigating both bureaucacy and bullets during the cold war hysteria of the 1960s.

The Skin I Live In (La Piel que Habito)

Pedro Almodovar is the most successful and acclaimed Spanish director of the last 30 years. Although he makes accessible, adult movies that blend comedy, melodrama and pop culture into his own unique style, Almodovar is categorized in the U.S. as an art-house director and his films have never received mainstream commercial success. Although he has won an Academy Award for best foreign language film and several Cannes Film Festival awards, Almodovar has never abandoned his native Spain for the lure of Hollywood money.

The Skin I Live In (2011) is somewhat of a departure for Almodovar in that it incorporates traditional horror film elements into his melodramatic formula. Antonio Banderas plays Dr. Robert Ledgard, a renowned scientist who is attempting to develop synthetic human skin. His wife died years earlier in a car accident and he is trying to create skin that will be impervious to fire and cuts. However, Dr. Ledgard is soon revealed to be an obsessed “mad scientist” that has actually kidnapped a young woman named Vera in order to have a test subject for his skin experiments.

Dr. Ledgard keeps Vera locked in his isolated mansion, bound in a compression bandage to keep her synthetic skin graft in place. Vera is a morose and mysterious figure who looks more like a mummy than a living woman. After a visit from the housekeeper’s son ends in brutality and violence, the film begins to reveal the tangled web of sinister events that has led both Ledgard and Vera to this dark and twisted existence.

At times, the film’s outlandish plot has comical coincidences but they always lead to gruesome and disturbing developments. The Skin I Live In reminded me a of a modern-day giallo with its sometimes absurd but always diabolical plot twists and turns amidst the picturesque European locations. It is difficult to discuss any events in this movie without giving away the myriad of surprises Almodovar presents throughout the film. Suffice to say that Ledgard and Vera both have vicious secret pasts that are revealed in flashback, and eventually they become lovers. However, as one is captor and the other captive this affair always carries an ominous undertone of menace.

While The Skin I Live In is filled with dark and violent scenes, Almodovar keeps the tone from being overly bleak through his vivid mis-en-scene and the melodramatic quality of the script and performances. Casting Antonio Banderas in the lead is part of the key to keeping the film from becoming a parade of misery. Banderas, who Almodovar made a star through numerous early movies, brings those movie star looks to the role of a mad scientist. The audience wants to like him and feels sympathy for him at times because even when he is committing atrocious acts he never projects the quality of someone who is truly evil. Whether Banderas is capable as an actor to even project those emotions is debatable but you can judge that for yourself.

The Skin I Live In obviously borrows heavily from the surreal classic Eyes Without A Face, but it does so with a knowing wink. Almodovar uses both Eyes Without A Face and Frankenstein as the genre canvas on which to paint his own original piece of modern pop-gothic art. He takes horror genre elements and builds a 21^st Century version of those classic tales by adding a layer of sexuality that those earlier films could only hint at through obtuse subtext. The classic mind-body schism is contemplated through the lens of gender identity, sexuality and even love. Almodovar is contemplating not only what makes us human but also what makes humans male or female and asking where human sexuality fits on the continuum between the mind and body.

While this is an enjoyable film for all the reasons I have mentioned, it is not in the same league with Eyes Without A Face. That film may not ever be equaled for the quality and subtlety it used even while incorporating elements of medical horror in its contemplation of the pain of human loss and suffering. Almodovar’s modern version of medical horror is an interesting experiment and it is nice to see a filmmaker step out of his comfort zone and tackle an unfamiliar genre with such genuine affection and verve.

Available on DVD and Blu-Ray from Sony Pictures.

Monsieur Hire

This film demonstrated to me that, despite some inherent flaws, the system Netflix uses to suggest related titles can sometimes make appropriate choices and lead subscribers to discover films that might otherwise remain unwatched. This little gem popped up on my Netflix account as another title I might enjoy based on the fact that I had recently watched a few French thrillers. Monsieur Hire's description of murder, voyeurism and suspense sounded intriguing so I gave it a try. While the film certainly does contain all the previously mentioned thriller elements it is also a moving character study of an isolated, lonely outsider who yearns for nothing more than deep human connection and love. Monsieur Hire (1998) is a very good film whose European origins come through in the fact that it is a slow-paced, intelligent tale instead of some high concept, nail-biting thriller. 

Hire is an isolated loner living in an apartment building where neighbors whisper about him behind his back and children play pranks on him. In response to this Hire has become a loner with a tough exterior who has convinced himself he does not care to belong because he despises people anyway. He lives a very orderly and solitary existence, going to work each day and then returning home to listen to music and eat a quiet dinner. Hire doesn’t interact with people except to conduct his work (as a tailor) or to meet the required social formalities, such as saying “Good morning” to passersby. He also going to the bowling alley where, despite not being friendly with other bowlers, he is admired for his skill at the game.

Instead of participating in life he observes others, for Hire is a voyeur. Each night he puts on the same piece of classical music, dims the lights and watches a woman who lives in an apartment across the courtyard. Night after night he watches her read, sleep, get dressed or make love to her boyfriend. Rather than being appalled by his behavior, one feels sadness for Hire because you sense his loneliness and yearning to connect with another human, and his complete inability to do so. His spying, while erotic, does not seem to be the fulfillment of some sexual fantasy but rather the fulfillment of a human need.

A wrench is thrown into Hire’s reclusive but orderly world when a murdered woman is discovered not too far from his apartment building. A detective begins to investigate the murder and soon seems to have his sights set on Hire as a likely culprit. He begins asking him difficult questions that Hire answers defensively. Shortly after becoming a murder suspect, Hire is caught peeping by the object of his gaze across the courtyard. However, rather than going to the police the woman, named Alice, introduces herself to Hire and after some awkward moments becomes friendly. Although it is an odd and awkward friendship to say the least.

One particularly moving and erotic scene shows Hire following Alice and her boyfriend to a boxing match. Watching them from afar he sees the boyfriend leave her to talk excitedly with some friends. Hire moves up next to Alice and then begins to delicately touch her breasts beneath her blouse. She does not move or complain and they stand together in the crowd, sharing an intimate moment without speaking or looking at each other.

What are her motives for pursuing this odd friendship or secret affair? Alice has a boyfriend and Hire is an unattractive, socially awkward voyeur. The murder is somehow involved in this odd triangle but the audience is not quite sure who to trust – Hire, the boyfriend or Alice. No more can be revealed without spoiling the movie and the final act extends the tension to the bitter end but in a delicate and absorbing manner rather than through Hollywood set pieces.

The film is based upon a book by Belgian author Georges Simenon and while I am not familiar with his novels this is the second film I have seen based on his work. Les Fantômes du Chapelier (The Hatter’s Ghost) by the great Claude Chabrol shares many themes and characteristics with Monsieur Hire and is another entertaining picture for anyone who enjoys French thrillers. Both films involve a murder and feature isolated, reclusive tradesmen distrusted by provincial neighbors. Hire is a much more sympathetic character than the protagonist of Les Fantômes du Chapelier, and ultimately it is this sympathy for Hire that makes this modest thriller such an engaging film. Simenon is listed as having authored some 300 books and given the large amount of adaptations of his work that have been done by French directors I think I will be searching for more hidden gems among his oeuvre.

Available on DVD from Kino International and streaming through Netflix.

Blood Relatives (Les Liens de Sang)

The French New Wave film movement created not only some of cinema's finest achievements but also gave birth to the auteur theory of film criticism. It is fitting that some of the biggest beneficiaries of this canonization of a film’s author were La Nouvelle Vague's own auteurs such as Truffaut, Godard, Rohmer, and my personal favorite, Claude Chabrol.

Chabrol directed more than 15 films during an incredible creative peak between the years of 1968 and 1978. There are virtually no duds among the films he created during those years, and numerous classics, including Le Boucher, Une Femme Infidele, La Rupture, Que la Bete Meure, and Juste Avant La Nuit. Watch any film Chabrol made during this period and you will be thoroughly entertained, intrigued and challenged. Chabrol continued to make excellent films until his death in 2010 but these ten years were an inspired and fertile period.

Chabrol at his best would use the suspense or thriller genre to expose the hypocrisy and moral rot of the French bourgeoisie. Blood Relatives (Les Liens de Sang - 1978) takes Chabrol outside of his native France with a mystery set in Montreal. A young woman named Patricia bursts into the police station at night covered in blood and tells the officers that she barely escaped from an assailant but her cousin, Muriel, was sexually assaulted and murdered. Police Inspector Carella (Donald Sutherland) begins to investigate her story by rounding up and interviewing known sex criminals before Patricia changes her story and accuses her brother, Andrew, of the murder. Inspector Carella rightly believes that Patricia is hiding something and begins to dig deeper into Muriel’s past by searching for her missing diary. Here the film moves from police procedural into a disturbing tale of incest, pedophilia, jealousy and murder.

This is an extremely dark film populated at all turns by deception, pedophiles and incestuous affairs. With the exception of Inspector Carella, everyone seems to be hiding something or guilty of a crime. Even suspects cleared of the murder are guilty of being pedophiles. Donald Pleasence turns in a nice performance as a vile pedophile who must prove he did not murder Muriel. David Hemmings also makes an appearance as Muriel’s boss. Although he is at least twice Muriel’s age and married he is using his position as her boss to try to seduce the young girl. Muriel herself also has dark secrets hidden away out of guilt and shame.

Filming in a different location may have been an intriguing challenge for Chabrol but his forte was portraying and critiquing French society. It is impossible for him to have the same depth of knowledge about life in Montreal and the film suffers from this change of location. There is a somewhat generic feel to the dialogue and the characters compared to the films Chabrol made in France. The mystery is intriguing and the actors are all top notch but there is a certain perception and insight missing from the proceedings. Chabrol’s best films are at the same time universal in their themes and specific to their location. The incidents and characters are intrinsically French while the themes carry a worldwide understanding and relevance. Blood Relatives feels like it could have been made anywhere, its characters from any country. Chabrol does not capture the flavor of Montreal in location or character like he is able to do in his French films.

It is interesting to note that Blood Relatives has some strong similarities to the cult TV show Twin Peaks. As surprising as it sounds, either David Lynch or Mark Frost may have been influenced by Blood Relatives. The first time this thought struck me was during the funeral scene. As they are lowering Muriel into the ground, her cousin Andrew breaks down in tears and jumps on her casket just as Leland Palmer does at Laura’s funeral in Twin Peaks. After this scene the numerous similarities became more obvious. Both stories revolve around a detective (or FBI agent) trying to solve the murder of a teenage girl. The mystery hinges on finding the dead girl’s diary, and the diary holds dark secrets concerning incest and sexual affairs with older men. The works have similar themes about hidden secrets, incest, pedophilia and the potential darkness that dwells beneath the placid surface of bourgeoisie life. While Lynch and Frost turned out a completely original TV series it is hard not to wonder if the seeds of their work were planted by Chabrol.

While Blood Relatives is not one of Chabrol’s masterpieces, it is an engaging and intriguing film. It is a dark film with a good mystery, strong acting and solid directing. Chabrol is one of cinema’s masters and even a lesser film in his hands is better than a great film in the hands of someone else. 

Blood Relatives is only available on an R2 PAL DVD released by Carlton Home Video in 2000. I don’t know if this disc is OOP but luckily for us in North America it can be found for download in avi format.

Hammer Non-Horror Honor Roll

The British film production company Hammer Films is synonymous with horror films and enjoyed unprecedented success in the genre from the mid-1950s through most of the 1970s. They were so well known for their gothic horrors that the term “Hammer Horror” became a brand and a genre unto itself. What is not as well known is that some of the best films Hammer ever produced were not horror films. They produced quality films in a variety of genres including sci-fi, thrillers, action-adventure and suspense.

The company ceased production in the 1980s but has been resurrected in recent years and started churning out marginal horror product again under the Hammer name. The films they are producing now will not make anyone forget the classic Frankenstein and Dracula movies or the quintessential Hammer film stars Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. However, it seems many have already forgotten some of the less famous, but equally deserving non-horror films Hammer produced during their heyday. The DVD market has provided a second life for many of these hard to find Hammer classics in recent years. So that these gems don’t get buried beneath the gothic fog of the great Hammer horror films, I compiled my “Best of the Hammer Non-Horror Films” list. The list is in chronological order because it was too tough to rank a best of list on quality. Search out these films and enjoy a little nostalgic journey through the vault of one of the most prolific genre production companies of all time.

The Abominable Snowman (1957) [US title: The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas] - Despite the monster movie title this film is a sci-fi adventure written and directed in serious and dramatic tones by Quatermass veterans Val Guest and Nigel Kneale. Together, director Guest and writer Kneale teamed up numerous times in their early careers to make some of the best films produced by Hammer. An expedition into the Himalayas to study rare mountain herbs becomes dangerous when the scientists join another group who are on a hunt to find the mythical Yeti. Peter Cushing turns in another great performance as the thoughtful scientist, and Forest Tucker surprises with a believable portrait of the loud, gruff American adventurer at odds with Cushing. The film becomes not just a showdown between man and monster but also dramatizes the continuing battle between science and the commercial exploitation of nature. On DVD from Anchor Bay.

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) – After rebooting the Frankenstein and Dracula tales in brilliant color, Sherlock Holmes received the Hammer treatment in this version of the Conan Doyle classic. While remaining firmly grounded as a detective tale this version also benefits from the menacing, supernatural elements of the story like foggy moors and ghostly hounds. The opening set-piece, a prologue that explains the origins of the Baskerville curse, is one of the best ever staged by director Terence Fisher. Fisher is generally considered the premier Hammer director and this film proves he was capable of expertly filming mystery, drama and suspense without relying on the trappings of gothic horror that made him famous. Of course, the performances of Peter Cushing as Holmes and Christopher Lee as Sir Henry Baskerville are superb. On DVD from MGM.

The Stranglers of Bombay (1960) - This tension filled British colonial-era historical thriller chronicles the exploits of Captain Harry Lewis (Gary Rolfe) while stationed in India. He and all the British military are there mainly to protect the business interests of Britain and the East India Company. Captain Lewis has been investigating a series of disappearances of the native Indians and is pushing the military to take an interest in solving the mystery. The story shows a somewhat progressive view for its era by criticizing the callous attitude of the British colonials toward the Indian people and culture. At the same time, the movie has no trouble adding thrills and excitement through its portrait of a fringe cult of locals, the notorious Thuggees, who practice ritual sacrifice, torture and murder. Another excellent entry from Terence Fisher. One of four Hammer films on DVD from Sony under the title Icons of Adventure.

Captain Clegg (1962) [US title: Night Creatures] – Another historical adventure story that uses eerie atmosphere to ramp up the excitement. The British navy, led by Captain Collier, arrives in an English coastal town to investigate reports of smuggling and bootlegging. The Captain soon learns of a local tale about “Marsh Phantoms” – ghostly riders haunting the marshes and spooking all who come in their path. The village vicar (Peter Cushing, again) seems to have many secrets and Captain Collier thinks he may be involved in the smuggling. The Marsh Phantom scenes provide an air of mystery that enlivens the costume drama atmosphere and quirky performances by Cushing and the young Oliver Reed are welcome additions. Captain Clegg combines genre elements from swashbuckling adventures and creepy mysteries into a uniquely enjoyable film. One of eight Hammer films on DVD from Universal under the title Hammer Horror Series.

The Damned (1963) [US title: These Are the Damned]  – This rarely seen film is a masterpiece of cold war nuclear fear set amid the scenic splendor of an English seaside village. After a run-in with a group of rebellious youths, an American tourist stumbles upon a terrifying secret government experiment. All the performances are top notch and Oliver Reed stands out in the role of the gang leader. Thematically, The Damned portrays the loneliness of modern life, authoritarian government control and the widening generation gap that would eventually come to define the 60s as much as the cold war. Because it was originally released in a severely edited form in the U.S. this film was given little attention and became a lost treasure sought by many Hammer fans. Now available in its original cut The Damned can finally be reassessed and claim its rightful status as an early sci-fi classic. Far ahead of its time but superbly of its time, The Damned is a must-see film. One of six Hammer films on DVD from Sony under the title Icons of Suspense.

Hysteria (1965) – Paranoia takes center stage in this Kafaesque thriller about an American named Chris who wakes up in an English hospital with no memory of his life prior to a recent car accident. Chris begins to work on unraveling the mystery with his only clue a photograph torn from a newspaper. He also discovers some unknown person has been paying his hospital bills and has provided him with a penthouse apartment. So many unusual and unexplainable things happen that Chris begins to question his own sanity. This wonderful premise propels the audience and Chris on a bizarre trip through the swinging sixties and concludes with a satisfying twist and resolution to the mystery. Hysteria is one of the best of the Hammer “sting in the tail” mystery thrillers. Available from the Warner Archive DVD-on-demand collection.

Quatermass and the Pit (1967) [US title: Five Million Years to Earth] – Another sci-fi masterpiece from a thought provoking screenplay by Nigel Kneale. The third, and best, Quatermass film explores themes of human evolution, extraterrestrial life and the power of the human mind. It accomplishes all of this with an interesting and exciting sci-fi premise whose influence can be seen in everything from 2001: A Space Odyssey to Alien, The X-Files and even Scientology. A mysterious metallic structure is discovered during the construction of a new London underground railway station. Initially thought to be an unexploded WWII missile it is soon discovered to be strange looking vehicle of unknown origin containing mysterious ape-like skeletons. From there the mystery and excitement builds to a satisfying and dramatic conclusion. Despite suffering from low-budget special effects, Quatermass and the Pit is serious, ground-breaking sci-fi for 1967 and possibly the finest movie on this list – another must-see Hammer film. The only unifying element of the Quatermass series is the character of rocket scientist Professor Quatermass so they can be viewed in any order. On DVD from Anchor Bay.

The Devil Rides Out (1968) [US title: The Devil's Bride] – Arguably a horror movie, this film edges out of a strict horror definition because it is a genre mashup of the occult and action-adventure set in swinging sixties Britain. Christopher Lee is excellent as the Duc de Richelieu caught in a deadly fight against a group of Satanists. This is pure pulp but if you buy a ticket you will enjoy the ride. It is fun of seeing Lee play a chivalrous character confronting a satanic cult in order to save his friend’s son from becoming a servant of the devil. The period setting utilizing genteel English country estates and 60’s sports cars provides a unique backdrop in which to stage demonic battles and sinister visions. Based on an equally pulp novel by prolific British author Dennis Wheatly, this is another Terence Fisher film that keeps the thrills moving fast enough that you don’t question the plausibility of the action. On DVD from Anchor Bay.

The Lost Continent (1968) – Another adaptation of a Dennis Wheatly book, and another bizarre genre mashup that somehow works despite some inherent goofiness in the plot. The Lost Continent is a sci-fi, fantasy, action-adventure tale that begins with the voyage of an old steamship carrying a motley collection of passengers and an illegal cargo of explosives. The ship runs into a hurricane and is blown off course and into a mysterious fog covered sea. The truly bizarre events occur in this uncharted part of the ocean, where the crew and passengers encounter flesh-eating seaweed, giant shellfish, a graveyard of previous shipwrecks and a band of Spanish conquistadores who have lived here since their galleon ran aground centuries ago. While the movie shows its budget limitations, the set-designs are a psychedelic visual treat of surreal imagery. A great late-60’s head-trip movie that is like a Harryhausen fantasy film with a Hammer edginess. On DVD from Anchor Bay.

Straight on Till Morning (1972) – The final selection was tough but I wanted to include at least one selection from Hammer’s output in the 70s and Straight on Till Morning is the winner. This is the story of Brenda, a shy, naïve and childish girl from Liverpool who moves to London. She wants to be out on her own and the allure of mod and fashionable London calls her. Very somber in tone and at times reminiscent of Polanski’s Repulsion, Straight on Till Morning is a bleak movie that is as far away from the Hammer blueprint as you can get. After a rough adjustment period to the cynical, fast-paced city, Brenda meets a man named Peter and falls deeply in love. They begin a very strange love affair and soon it becomes apparent that Peter isn’t just weird – he is a psychopath with very dangerous secrets. On DVD from Anchor Bay.

Honorable Mentions: I don’t have time or space to go beyond the top ten but there are plenty more Hammer non-horror films out that are deserving of a mention. The films that were the toughest choices to leave out of the top ten are listed here and readily available on DVD.

The Snorkel (1958) ; Taste of Fear (1961) [US title: Scream of Fear]; The Full Treatment [US title: Stop Me Before I Kill!] (1961); Maniac (1963); Nightmare (1964); Paranoiac (1964) ; Crescendo (1970)

Antichrist

Even before the Dogma ’95 manifesto and his banishment from Cannes in 2011, Lars von Trier was the leading enfant terrible of the film world. After learning his third film, 1991's Europa, had won three awards at Cannes but had not been given the coveted Palme d'Or, von Trier flipped-off the judges and stormed out of the awards ceremony. At the 2009 festival he also famously said "I am the best film director in the world.” There was a time that I might have agreed with von Trier's self-aggrandizing assessment. The “Europa Trilogy” included not only the wonderful Europa but his masterpiece Element of Crime and the underrated Epidemic. This creative burst also included the made-for-television movie Medea and his fantastic Danish television series The Kingdom. In roughly 10 years von Trier produced enough quality work for an entire career.

Although his films since that period have not quite been on the same level, von Trier's experimentation has always been interesting and extremely admirable in a world where film is often looked at as product and not art. As his public statements and actions make clear, von Trier does not shy away from controversy and often he seems to be courting it on purpose. He has been criticized for being a misogynist (Breaking the Waves, Antichrist) insensitive to mental disabilities (Idiots) anti-American (Dogville, Manderlay) and a Nazi (the 2011 press conference that led to his Cannes exile). Whether he is acting like a petulant child just trying to shock the establishment or is raising difficult subjects in order to bring them into the realm of public discourse is debatable. It doesn't matter to me either way because artists should provoke and sometimes disturb audiences and, whatever his motives, von Trier’s films are original and provocative.

Antichrist apparently started with von Trier’s idea to make a horror film, although this is by no means a conventional horror movie. A moving, slow-motion prologue in stunning black-and-white shows a child’s accidental death crosscut with scenes of his parents making love in the next room. Part one of the film, titled “Grief”, documents how the couple copes with their loss and guilt. Willem Dafoe plays the father, a therapist attempting to hold himself together while his wife, Charlotte Gainsbourg, is coming completely apart. (The characters are unnamed in the film so I will use the actors’ names.) 

Dafoe is not happy with the psychiatric treatment his wife is receiving and takes her out of the hospital so he can treat her himself. Dafoe’s therapy style is filled with new age platitudes like “whatever the mind can conceive and believe you can achieve.” His therapeutic methods seem shallow and inappropriate in the face of such a devastating loss. Dafoe is cold and emotionless while Gainsbourg is consumed by her grief and unable to function. After the couple struggle through much pain and anguish in the first section of the film, the husband convinces his wife to retreat to their isolated rural cabin in an effort to help her face her fears.

Part two, titled “Pain”, takes the couple across a literal and metaphorical bridge to Eden, the name of their cabin. This Eden will soon transform from an idyllic escape into a bloody battleground. In Antichrist nature is not renewing or cleansing but instead ominous and frightening. The couples’ time at the cabin is filled with images of decay and death. A baby bird falls out of a tree and is covered in ants, a doe has a half-born/dead fawn hanging out of her body, and Dafoe has a vision of a blood soaked fox who tells him “chaos reigns.” It is clear that for these people, as Gainsbourg herself says, “nature is Satan’s church.”   

Part three, titled “Despair”, and Part four, titled “The Three Beggars”, begins to delve into the topic of humanity’s long history of misogyny. It is revealed that Gainsbourg and her child had previously spent countless hours in this cabin while she worked on her master’s thesis, titled “Gynocide”. From the concept of original sin through witch trials to modern times, society has often defined femininity as monstrous. Now, after studying the barbaric acts against women through the centuries, she has started to embrace the idea that women are inherently evil. In its excruciating climax, Antichrist lives up to von Trier’s initial desire to create a horror film with brutal and surreal scenes of sex and violence. Far from the current exploitative horror trend of “torture porn”, this is real and visceral sexual violence that will leave you cringing. Gainsbourg and Dafoe proceed to inflict their inner pain upon each other and nowhere have I seen both the connection and dichotomy between sex and death so brutally enacted as it is here.

Antichrist will certainly shock and disturb viewers and those who do not like von Trier will find plenty of ammunition in this film to bludgeon him with once again. This film is not for the faint of heart and certainly not going to appeal to many casual viewers. However, underneath the graphic and exploitative elements of this film there is substance and Antichrist is the work of an artist struggling to make sense of life, love, grief and death in a very original style. Available from the fabulous Criterion Collection on both DVD and Blu-Ray.

Black Moon

This Louis Malle film has, until recently, been almost impossible to see since its theatrical debut in 1975. A surreal fantasy film, Black Moon is an atypical entry in Malle’s oeuvre and has never been released in the U.S. on either DVD or VHS. Because of its intriquing premise and unusual position in Malle’s filmography Black Moon has always been on my personal list of desired "lost" films. A year or two back TCM screened this rare title in a late night timeslot. Now, thanks to the Criterion Collection, after almost 40 years of obscurity it is finally available on both DVD and Blu-Ray.

Black Moon is an adult Alice In Wonderland story focusing on an adolescent girl’s bizarre exploits in odd and unknown surroundings. As such, it fits into a sort of sub-genre of European ‘70s cinema that uses the tale of Alice as a template for female escapades in strange fantasy worlds. The minor masterpieces of this sub-genre are Roman Polanski’s What? (1972) and a little-known Czech film from 1970 called Valerie and Her Week of Wonders. (Also somewhat of a “lost” film, What? has never been released on home video in the U.S. but is available on the grey market thanks to an Italian DVD release. Valerie is available on DVD thanks to the wonderful Facets Video.)

Black moon is a little used astronomical term for a month when there are two dark cycles of the moon. In myth this second dark period, the black moon, is a time of heighted magical and spiritual activity. The moon also has deep connections to women in ancient lore, including Luna the Roman goddess of the moon. Both aspects of the title are key components of the film.

The story takes place in the near future where a literal war is raging between men and women. A young girl (thinly disguised as a boy) races in a car down a pastoral road. She witnesses several wartime atrocities on both sides of the gender conflict and, soon after her femininity is revealed, she runs wildly on foot through the countryside and passes out on the grass. Upon waking, she sees what appears to be a small unicorn, but before she can get a closer look it is gone and a woman rides by on a black stallion. The girl follows after the stallion and shortly comes upon an idyllic looking farmhouse. 

At this point the film’s tenuous connection to any form of narrative trajectory is completely severed and the girl enters Malle’s surrealistic Wonderland. Outside the farmhouse, a group of naked children playfully chase an enormous pig. Inside the house, even more absurdities abound with a pig in a high chair at the kitchen table, an old woman lying in bed talking to a rat, obtuse messages coming through a radio transmitter, and ants crawling over a piece of cheese. Instead of a potion with a tag saying “Drink Me”, our young Alice sees an abnormally large and temptingly refreshing glass of milk in the middle of the kitchen table. It is almost out of her reach but she is just able to grab it and quench her thirst.

Trying to find a method to the madness of this film is a difficult task, but given the title and the constant allusions to motherhood and sexuality one of the obvious themes is the fear or trepidation a young girl may feel when transforming from adolescence into womanhood. The old woman mocks the girl for having “no bosom” and later laughs when her panties fall down revealing even more intimate areas. In a scene perhaps foreshadowed when the girl thirstily gulps the large glass of milk, she later breastfeeds the old woman when the woman goes into an infantile state and throws a temper tantrum. She also rocks her with a comforting lullaby demonstrating a bizarre acceptance of her maternal instincts.

Her sexuality awakening, the girl meets the gardener who is a strong and virile looking young man. They are able to communicate their thoughts to each other without speech. This is an idealized female view of a romantic relationship. Man and woman completely in synch – a soul mate. Though he is the strong, masculine silent type they are able to connect even without speech.

Phallic imagery is also present throughout, with a snake making several appearances and advances upon the heroine. First he slithers towards the girl as she looks through a dresser drawer and she recoils from him in surprise or fear. Later, when she is sleeping on a bed, the serpent slithers slowly up her leg and beneath her skirt.

Black Moon also uses the familiar image of the unicorn, but turns this imagery upside down. Traditionally, the unicorn is a symbol of chastity and purity and they are often connected with young girls in lore and literature. Legends say they will run away from every human except for innocent or virginal young girls. The unicorn constantly runs away from the girl, which suggests that she is not pure or no longer a virgin. However, this unicorn is not like the unicorns pictured in storybooks. He is a small, dirty brown pony instead of a proud white horse. When the girl finally does corner the unicorn she finds out he talks and that he is not at all fond of her. “What is it you want anyway - chasing after me? You are mean” he says. Offended, she can only disparage him for not being a real unicorn. “Unicorns are slim and white,” she says. Is the girl already a woman and no longer innocent and pure or is the unicorn not a true unicorn? The unicorn appears again in one of the memorable closing scenes when it becomes apparent that the girl is about to breastfeed him. Malle tastefully (perhaps too much so) chooses to leave this scene to the viewer’s imagination.

This film is rich in more imagery and imagination than covered here and there are numerous layers of symbolism and alternative thematic explanations possible. The vivid imagery and beautiful cinematography from the legendary Sven Nykvist keep this surreal fantasy fresh even after repeat viewings. Black Moon deserves its place next to the other classics of this sub-genre and is highly recommended. Available from Criterion on Blu-Ray and DVD.