Kirsten Dunst won Best Actress at Cannes for this thunderous masterwork about the catatonic effects of depression. It was perhaps inevitable that Lars von Trier’s cinema of suffering would culminate in the total annihilation of humankind. Still, the end of the world has never looked more beautiful.
Perhaps the most epic of Lars von Trier’s many provocations, this stylistically strange, sprawling and yes, substantial, character study comprehensively approaches the subjects of love and sex and everything in between. A fascinating, daring drama—featuring Stacy Martin in her first film role.
Reunited with his Antichrist and Melancholia collaborator Charlotte Gainsbourg, Lars von Trier returns to the life of protagonist Jo to conclude what may well prove his magnum opus. A lofty work—less lusty, but still stark and shocking—rich in metaphor and psychological insight.
A luminous study of her iconic mother Jane Birkin, Charlotte Gainsbourg’s directorial debut is so startlingly intimate that it feels as if we are eavesdropping on family secrets. Shedding their mythologized image, the celebrated duo mull on love and loss as they leaf through extraordinary memories.
In Jacques Doillon’s abrasive melodrama, an encounter between two couples takes tragic proportions as the quartet of lovers play with burning jealousy and possessive desire. The vampiristic and self-destructive impulses of love are explored with piercing honesty and through impassioned performances.
