Love Lars. Love his films. Now I've seen this interview I love him. Nice guy who makes controversial jokes. He's an artist and his work far outweighs any unjust critique.
It was a stupid joke, not funny and actually just confusing. But yeah who hasn’t said stupid embarrassing things on the cuff as a joke. It’s endearing in a way
Every time I watch a clip from one of his film's I am reminded how wonderful that film is and want (need) to see it again immediately. About how many filmmakers can I say that? Godard perhaps. Bruno Dumont perhaps. And of course Breaking the Waves and the often overlooked The Element of Crime are among my favorites of von Trier's films, and among my favorites of all films.
Lars is one impenetrable guy. I'm not sure what to think of him as a person. But hey...creative people tend to be neurotic. I will say, he has such an interesting aesthetic vision...his visuals are very elemental in a way. Very biological and earthy and raw and sort of shoving your face into the harsh beating heart of nature.
The Idiots is his most underrated film by far. To combine credible, touching drama with tragedy and comedy. DAMN it's so unbelievably good. Kermode needs to watch it again and again until he gets it. Else he will remain a child.
I also loved "The Idiots". And unlike Kermode, I also loved "Breaking the Waves". But I generally respect Kermode's opinions on the films he watches, and I think he usually gives good reasons for why he likes/dislikes a film. Von Trier's films have covered a broad range of topics and handled each of them differently, so I think that it's okay to like or dislike things about each one, and you can do so and remain as adult as anyone else.
Great interview. I relate so closely with von Trier and his human condition. Sometimes the things he says and does throw me for a loop, but at the end of the day i respect how fearlessly he is willing to express himself. To make a movie like Melancholia or Antichrist and then say that the content is the result of him artistically battling his inner demons is such a positive influence on me. It males me feel safe to express myself, and that's a fucking priceless gift.
This is why any one critic is not enough. Kermode has introduced me to films I might otherwise have missed. But Breaking the Waves is an amazing piece of cinema that just didn't speak to him. Take all critics with a pinch of salt. Or as Lars might have it, a dash of melancholia...
I always wonder: where do critics get their aura of superiority? Why does this look like a conversation between an incorrigible schoolboy (von Trier) and the stern schoolmaster? Has Kermode done something... *anything* ... of interest... that I'm not aware of...?
Have you ever made a movie? I doubt it. The critics word is hugely important for independent filmmakers. They can discover and campaign your movie to be noticed by the public.
How many movies have you made? Ever screened a film at a festival? Getting your film seen by critics, and getting reviewed by them is very valuable... And, honestly - good movies usually get good reviews, and bad movies get poor reviews. There's no conspiracy behind it. But I'm interested: name me a couple of movies you believe have been unjustly trashed by critics, movies you think have real value and substance.
@@StermaPerma Just shut the fuck up, not everything is a political conspiracy. Some critics are marionettes controlled by social movements; those critics are also mostly read by people who are already sold on those movements. Serious critics exist for people who are actually interested in film (or literature or games or whatever they're a critic of), and sometimes you find a critic with whose tastes you agree a lot of the time and they can help you find films you like that you otherwise wouldn't have seen, and on the flipside, as Backyard Pix said, they help those movies actually get recognition from people who would actually like those films. Critics, at their core, are people who know more about film than most people, and who watch more films than most people, and they have a large part in deciding what films actually get exposure. And that's a GOOD THING. Critics will always exist, for as long as people have opinions. it's up to you to decide whether you listen to opinionated assholes who only like the films who agree with their specific worldview, or if you listen to people who actually know what they're talking about, who can judge films based on extensive knowledge of film as an artform.
If people still dislike Lars after watching this interview, those people shouldn't be watching his films. He's not a dick, he's actually really nice. His awkwardness and anxiety just gets in the way a lot, which is also sort of what happened at Cannes. His interaction skills with a large group of people isn't what it should be (how ironic for a director, but that's Lars for ya), but he's a great guy.
Lars' very dark, sarcastic danish humor really doesn't translate that well. Sorry, Lars. Lars is obviously not a nazi. Not a single dane would ever suspect him of that, even if they were at the press conference in Cannes, where he said he was one. The tragikomisch story about him discovering, on his mother's deadbed, that his father was in fact a german, not a jew as he thought his entire life is such an important key to understand him, I think.
How can he absolutely Hate breaking the Waves? I saw it for the first time recently and it's one of Von Trier's best, shot by legendary cinematographer Robby Muller. I thought Kermode had better taste tbh.
Maybe because of the raw, cold, bulky, exhausting and kind of off-putting atmosphere and look of the film? I'm also not a big fan of this visual style but it truly serves the film's themes. Nevertheless it's my least favourite LvT movie at the moment but I guess I'll like it more after a rewatch. I definitely don't hate it but I didn't have that much fun watching it, which I normally have with his other movies, especially Antichrist, Melancholia, Nymphomaniac and The House that Jack Built, because those have a more varied and accessible (visual) style.
Yes. I too thought a man I don't even know personally, who owes me nothing and has the right of a human to like and dislike things regardless of one person's tastes, had a taste that should have better fitted my personal convictions. Now that Kermode dislikes something I like, he is now a disappointment because I expected better from him, and for him to like something I liked. If he doesn't, his taste is automatically poor, because I'm an arrogant jerk who supersedes to know more about what "good taste" in film is over a man who has spent his whole life watching and reviewing films for a living. Good job.
its brilliant, and also a part of the golden heart trilogy along with the 2 films kermode hated (idioterne and breaking the waves, i think theyre both phenomenal).... its lars's best trilogy in my opinion...
Full credit to them both. Fair play to Dr K for being honest with Von Trier and telling him to his face that he hates some of his films and that he thinks he sometimes says things he doesn't mean to get a reaction. I hate it when interviewers fall over themselves to fawn over their interviewee and say how wonderful they/their work is, when on another programme (with the subject not around) they'll say what they really think. I'm looking at you Jonathan Ross. And fair play to Von Trier for
I hated Melancholia and I don't know if I loved Nyphomaniac or Antichrist, but those movies are still with me. They're embedded inside. Fascinating might come closest. I can't wait for his next movie.
I love that guy. I consider Melancholia as a masterpiece and Dogville as the most sincere movie ever. Oh and Dancer in the Dark powerful movie. His work is like a punch in the stomach because sometimes reality is exactly that. Some people are just not good with words and if you are a little bit smart you can absolutely tell that he isnt good with words and he says that himself. He is a great cinematographer with a unique style. Weird how nobody is canceling Kanye West who blatantly said he is a fan of hitler.....
depression makes you feel like you are in a play. you see how everything is manipulation. the people around you dont feel like they are manipulating, but they are manipulating themselves to feel that way. no one sees what you see and its crippling.
Totally agree with Levi Everaerts' comment here. We like to think he's a dick because of his 'oddities' and some of the things he says, but when I see him sitting taking an interview, he makes sense and he's not a dick. Troubled maybe, but not a dick.
My guess that Lars in public is all about media stunts and a bit of psychic troubles at play. He is definitely no cynical author, at least film-wise. The characters in his scripts are not postmodern ironic assholes but sincere, dedicated and often tragic individuals (Yeah, I'm thinking of Antichrist; but of Dogville, Mandalay and others too)
Redžep idt its media stunts. I think a man w severe depression and anxiety who usually didn't leave his bunker gets in trouble when you put him in a press conference. So misunderstood...
I'm curious what is marks thoughts on dancer in the dark a film I find to be a master piece weather von trier is good or not I have learned to separate the man from his films
Too 'misogynistic' for him, almost like every other film that shows the suffering and humiliation of a tragic female character directed by a male. Kermode is a bit of a radical feminist.
He thought it was exploitatively misogynistic. He's in a minority, but I find more puzzling his hatred of The Idiots, which was a fantastic film back then and just as much so now.
***** Dogville shows female humiliation too and he says he loved it. And ha ha what about Antichrist?? If some of Von Triers movie is anti-female, then it is definitely Antichrist, which he sayd he loved. Where is the logic?
Triers has never been anti-female, and he'd gain unanimous praise for his subject matter if he was a female feminist. I love Mark Kermode as a critic, but he's talking out his ass here. If anything, the female humiliation is more extreme in Dogville, though the film ends in retribution and is blatantly liberal feminist. Kermode is simply refusing to acknowledge the fact he doesn't like a well-respected movie (Breaking the Waves) based on personal idiosyncracy, so he has to come up with a PC reason for not liking it to justify his taste.
Iain Robb I´ve checked some of his reviews and with some of them I agree, with some of them not. I´s good that he can say what he really thinks but he is narrow minded and overreacts when he doesn´t like something. I´m just a bit scared of people who take themselves this much seriously. I don´t find Von Triers movies feminst or anti-feminist or misogynist. I just don´t look at movies this way unless it´s obvious. Though after seeing Antichrist and Nymphomaniac I suspect him for unhelthy relation towards women. But Breaking the Waves is amazing still.
I love Mark's movie criticism even if i dont ways agree but I have to say he really doesnt understand Lars' humour. Plus Mark's face from 2.45 onwards is fantastic.
I suppose that many people commenting here about how talentless Lars Von Trier is do not understand at all what should be the things you should focus your attention on. He is not just scenarist and director but he also works on cameras and many other things. He is really creative and works with cameras in special way. Other thing is to dislike his views or something but that does not make him talentless. Pretty much is visible for example in "Dogville Confessions" (the making of Dogville). So much incompetent and subjective criticism here.
Look the guy is an eccentric, highly intelligent, and artistic. I can empathize with him because although I am not a genius. I do feel I am creative, eccentric and have some sort of social phobias as well. But I digress. Some of the words that come out of his mouth are not meant to resonate well with the layman as condescending as it sounds. For one when he gave that answer that led to designating himself as a Nazi, he did it in the context of cinema. I believe the question he was asked was something along the lines of "From where did the gothic influences in your movie come from". He immediately drew upon Hitler's third Reich because they used gothic style for their insignias in their dress code and their architecture. He is familiar with this because his father was a German, and his Mom was Jewish. Of course the guy is going to have an interest in regards to Nazi Germany; because his family in that time would be considered a paradox. Perhaps in Europe cultural repression is ok, but mock the so called Yanks all you want, at least we have true freedom of speech. To quote our late President Harry Truman “Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear." Von Trier just wants more freedom of expression in Europe. He uses one of the characters in his movie as he often does to promote his ideology and although one may not like it I agree with his rethoric. For instance in the movie Nymphomaniac, Gainsburg's character at one point just utters Von Trier's viewpoint. “....each time a word becomes prohibited, you remove a stone from the democratic foundation. Society demonstrates its impotence in the face of the concrete problem by removing words from the language....." You can watch that scene for yourself.
The US is one of the least free nations on planet earth. Why do you think your puppet comedy presidents are constantly telling you that you are free... land of the free... thank your comedy military for your freeeeedom. It is very easy to tell an unfree nation.... look at the dominance of military in that country.
I completely agree. I am particularly sensitive to Nazi jokes and xenophobic humour, but I think Von Trier's sense of humour and odd way of looking at the world has always confused people. I've watched the interview several times and you can see how the media made him feel uncomfortable and he tried to bite back. Lars von Trier is a great guy and his comments never offend me. Idiot journalists. Von Trier said he'll never again grant interviews. It's a real shame.
melancholia and dogville are great films. I still haven't had the guts to watch anti-christ but will do so soon. ....and o'yeah, mark nails it as usual. must start listening (re-listening) to him again.
I love "The Idiots" , because I am and also Danish, which ehm tends to mean that I eat danish like so. That would serve anyone tasty, everywhere. :) :D
I don't think that Kermoade is being disrespectful. He's treating Von Trier and his remarks with respect in that he is giving Von Trier a chance to explain himself. He could've just gone into a RUclips comment section and said that Von Trier is a cunt, but he didn't. Kermoade pays close attention to the subjects of his reviews. He's not off the cuff. He pays a lot of thought to these subjects. Personally, the only mistake I see Von Trier as having made is that he tried to crack a tricky joke in his second language to a large group of people and on camera. Plenty of jokes sail close to the wind. If you think he's a Nazi or an asshole after what he said than you simply need him to be those things, just like a Republican needs Obama to be a Muslim from Kenya.
Lars is for me greatest question and tricky answer. Unlike and appreciate him. Watched him you always have to find your own answer or stay in depressed unconection witch yourself.
The Nazi comment was blown so out of proportion. He made a bad joke, it backfired, get the hell over it. Mayo's laughable suggestion in the Melancholia review that LVT's one fucking joke was as heinous as Mel Gibson's rants is one of the reasons I have very little regard for his opinion on anything. Very good interview. An honest conversation between two intelligent and delightful egomaniacs.
If Von Trier had said that on a American Talk Show like Late Late Show or Conan Brien or David Letterman's, nobody would have said a shit about it. It's sad for him. He's a filmmaking master.
I love listening to Kermode talk about movies, but I firmly disagree with many of his reviews. Keep watching, it's actually quite refreshing seeing an interview that isn't about kissing the director's ass or blindly praising his works. That being said, you are correct. Breaking the Waves is great :-)
I understand that one truly doesn't understand why some other person hates a movie which oneself loves but stopping to watch an interview just because of a different opinion about a movie annoys me.
Just a guy who tried to make a joke, and only then realized it might sound inappropriate. As to what he said about Hitler, it is pretty clear he only meant that Hitler was an intereting historical figure.
What makes Mark such an irritating interviewer is that his interviews are always about him, and not about the interview. Just look at 6:39 Where, after Lars opens up about his depression, Mark snarkily implies that he does not believe him, and just monologues about how he thinks that von Trier always lies in public. Even if you think somebody is lying about their depression, it is best to trust them as that little but of doubt could be enough to start a chain reaction.
what's kind of strange is that people think if one says something or something serious, one can't be funny or tongue in cheek about it. Most of Von Trier's films are extremely funny and comedic (and I do think Dancer in the Dark can be viewed as the great anti Sound of Music) Doesn't mean that when the jokes are told the film isn't serious or serious art. No problem with provocateurs. Not going to the cinema to be bored are we ?
Kermode says on record alot he doesn't really believe anything Trier says, because he's to him a prankster and a troll. like he just is struggling to keep it straight.
It starts with the respect of living being then understand it, it finish that there's a survival instinct that deals with hate And destruction, Social confrontation is for ever,stick with healthy mind and body while looking at the inaccessible stars that's where redemption is.
Strange how someone who makes such terrifying films can be so strangely likeable. David Lynch is my hero, and he makes terrifying films sometimes, and he is superlikeable... Then Michael Bay makes corny love stories and he's a terrible person.. Maybe it has to do with empathy, or lack thereof.
someone like Uma thurman who made such a big deal when she couldn't drive properly and dragged tarantino into a mess and made it look ugly, has worked with lars von trier twice now and respects him a lot, so you should understand that he doesn't treat his actors bad but the opposite as most of them keep coming back to work with him
Bergman actually DID sympathize with Hitler for real, btw. In his younger days. He was horrible on a personal level. Just google Skarsgård on Bergman, etc. Lars is a lamb, very nice guy. You know, when Lars wrote Ingmar several times and Ingmar never answered, that's just shows how naricisistic he was. He of course must have known Lars was regarded one of the best directors ever at that time, but that would not sit well with Bergman.
Love Lars. Love his films. Now I've seen this interview I love him. Nice guy who makes controversial jokes. He's an artist and his work far outweighs any unjust critique.
It was a stupid joke, not funny and actually just confusing. But yeah who hasn’t said stupid embarrassing things on the cuff as a joke. It’s endearing in a way
Why does Mark Kermode interview people as if he's a jaded met officer sent out for yet another pointless domestic disturbance call?
hahahahaa
another pointless domestic disturbance call would be better than a Lars von Trier interview
Lmao this is too true. I enjoy his reviews...but a compelling interviewer he is not.
Lmao Hassan you hit the nail on the head
😂
"bizarre assortment of fears and anxieties" what a thing to say, great empathy for mental health
Indeed! Mark wouldn't make the best psychologist 🤭
The father with the sperm...I must use that phrase...
its cause his real fathers identity was first revealed to him at his mothers deathbed
The works of Lars von Trier continue to amaze me. He remains my favorite foreign film director.
How can you hate breaking the waves what a beautiful love story and one of the best performances by an actress ever
The ending was too cruel
he is probably a tory , that's why he hates the film
Are you joking?? He’s very famously a lefty, he wears his politics on his sleeve...
@@ilikerice5208 i don't know it was only a thought.
@@martinenyx-filmstuff305 that's life though. You don't get to choose how horrible it is to you.
I like Lars. I understand him. I'm danish too. But he's really very sweet,, and extremely shy.
_Dogville_ and _Melancholia_ are masterworks.
Yes, irrevocably.
lol, snobs.
Nymphomaniac and especially Antichrist and The House that Jack Built too ^^
I love interviews that are actual conversations
Every time I watch a clip from one of his film's I am reminded how wonderful that film is and want (need) to see it again immediately. About how many filmmakers can I say that? Godard perhaps. Bruno Dumont perhaps. And of course Breaking the Waves and the often overlooked The Element of Crime are among my favorites of von Trier's films, and among my favorites of all films.
Kubrick too.
Lars is one impenetrable guy. I'm not sure what to think of him as a person. But hey...creative people tend to be neurotic. I will say, he has such an interesting aesthetic vision...his visuals are very elemental in a way. Very biological and earthy and raw and sort of shoving your face into the harsh beating heart of nature.
The Idiots is his most underrated film by far. To combine credible, touching drama with tragedy and comedy. DAMN it's so unbelievably good. Kermode needs to watch it again and again until he gets it. Else he will remain a child.
I agree. It's my favourite movie of his.
I also loved "The Idiots". And unlike Kermode, I also loved "Breaking the Waves". But I generally respect Kermode's opinions on the films he watches, and I think he usually gives good reasons for why he likes/dislikes a film. Von Trier's films have covered a broad range of topics and handled each of them differently, so I think that it's okay to like or dislike things about each one, and you can do so and remain as adult as anyone else.
May we please get a Dancer in the Dark and Melancholia Criterion release?
That would be fucking awesome.
Great interview. I relate so closely with von Trier and his human condition. Sometimes the things he says and does throw me for a loop, but at the end of the day i respect how fearlessly he is willing to express himself. To make a movie like Melancholia or Antichrist and then say that the content is the result of him artistically battling his inner demons is such a positive influence on me. It males me feel safe to express myself, and that's a fucking priceless gift.
I’m so late but Lars is becoming one of my favorite people on earth 👍🏼
Also how can you hate “ breaking the waves “ ?
Lars von Trier is one of cinema's most beloved filmmakers
Hes just a genius with a bad sense of humor. A toxic mix for someone who is in the public eye
Brian Mason His sense of humour is hilarious! What do you mean ‘bad’?
For me he has a good sense of humor.
It's a great sense of humour, just very unconventional is all.
He has a great sense of humor.
Too bad too many people wanted to pretend to be offended.
@@NostalgiNorden That's what it actually is. Very well said.
"What a load of crap" lol
is the editor saying something?
This is why any one critic is not enough. Kermode has introduced me to films I might otherwise have missed. But Breaking the Waves is an amazing piece of cinema that just didn't speak to him. Take all critics with a pinch of salt. Or as Lars might have it, a dash of melancholia...
I always wonder: where do critics get their aura of superiority? Why does this look like a conversation between an incorrigible schoolboy (von Trier) and the stern schoolmaster? Has Kermode done something... *anything* ... of interest... that I'm not aware of...?
DISCOGOTHTHEJAZZFAN humility is an artist's greatest virtue.
Well, his ranting review of Angels & Demons saved a man's life. What the fuck have you ever done, fuckchop?
Have you ever made a movie? I doubt it. The critics word is hugely important for independent filmmakers. They can discover and campaign your movie to be noticed by the public.
How many movies have you made? Ever screened a film at a festival? Getting your film seen by critics, and getting reviewed by them is very valuable... And, honestly - good movies usually get good reviews, and bad movies get poor reviews. There's no conspiracy behind it. But I'm interested: name me a couple of movies you believe have been unjustly trashed by critics, movies you think have real value and substance.
@@StermaPerma Just shut the fuck up, not everything is a political conspiracy. Some critics are marionettes controlled by social movements; those critics are also mostly read by people who are already sold on those movements.
Serious critics exist for people who are actually interested in film (or literature or games or whatever they're a critic of), and sometimes you find a critic with whose tastes you agree a lot of the time and they can help you find films you like that you otherwise wouldn't have seen, and on the flipside, as Backyard Pix said, they help those movies actually get recognition from people who would actually like those films.
Critics, at their core, are people who know more about film than most people, and who watch more films than most people, and they have a large part in deciding what films actually get exposure. And that's a GOOD THING. Critics will always exist, for as long as people have opinions. it's up to you to decide whether you listen to opinionated assholes who only like the films who agree with their specific worldview, or if you listen to people who actually know what they're talking about, who can judge films based on extensive knowledge of film as an artform.
Amazing interview, both of them have very strong, rival personalities, and there is a lot of respect but also tension.
If people still dislike Lars after watching this interview, those people shouldn't be watching his films. He's not a dick, he's actually really nice. His awkwardness and anxiety just gets in the way a lot, which is also sort of what happened at Cannes. His interaction skills with a large group of people isn't what it should be (how ironic for a director, but that's Lars for ya), but he's a great guy.
I only hate him for the sex abuse allegations he has (which I can say are 100% real), but if he never did that I would love him
@@japalco6185 how can you be so sure?
Lars' very dark, sarcastic danish humor really doesn't translate that well. Sorry, Lars. Lars is obviously not a nazi. Not a single dane would ever suspect him of that, even if they were at the press conference in Cannes, where he said he was one. The tragikomisch story about him discovering, on his mother's deadbed, that his father was in fact a german, not a jew as he thought his entire life is such an important key to understand him, I think.
thanks for posting
How can he absolutely Hate breaking the Waves? I saw it for the first time recently and it's one of Von Trier's best, shot by legendary cinematographer Robby Muller. I thought Kermode had better taste tbh.
Maybe because of the raw, cold, bulky, exhausting and kind of off-putting atmosphere and look of the film?
I'm also not a big fan of this visual style but it truly serves the film's themes. Nevertheless it's my least favourite LvT movie at the moment but I guess I'll like it more after a rewatch. I definitely don't hate it but I didn't have that much fun watching it, which I normally have with his other movies, especially Antichrist, Melancholia, Nymphomaniac and The House that Jack Built, because those have a more varied and accessible (visual) style.
Yes. I too thought a man I don't even know personally, who owes me nothing and has the right of a human to like and dislike things regardless of one person's tastes, had a taste that should have better fitted my personal convictions. Now that Kermode dislikes something I like, he is now a disappointment because I expected better from him, and for him to like something I liked. If he doesn't, his taste is automatically poor, because I'm an arrogant jerk who supersedes to know more about what "good taste" in film is over a man who has spent his whole life watching and reviewing films for a living. Good job.
@@thebatmanfan1309 are you autistic bro?
Agree Waves was incredible
I've never felt as much anxiety as I did watching Melancholia. I could barely finish the fucking thing.
i realy like dancer in the dark
its brilliant, and also a part of the golden heart trilogy along with the 2 films kermode hated (idioterne and breaking the waves, i think theyre both phenomenal)....
its lars's best trilogy in my opinion...
Same. I think it’s his best movie
You'll always be there to caaaatch me.
Full credit to them both.
Fair play to Dr K for being honest with Von Trier and telling him to his face that he hates some of his films and that he thinks he sometimes says things he doesn't mean to get a reaction.
I hate it when interviewers fall over themselves to fawn over their interviewee and say how wonderful they/their work is, when on another programme (with the subject not around) they'll say what they really think. I'm looking at you Jonathan Ross.
And fair play to Von Trier for
Dancer in the Dark is his best movie imo
Unanimously agree
3:35 "you have to have melancholia at the table, to put it in, to make it become a real dish"
3:40 "what a load of crap"
I hated Melancholia and I don't know if I loved Nyphomaniac or Antichrist, but those movies are still with me. They're embedded inside. Fascinating might come closest. I can't wait for his next movie.
Thought Nyphomaniac and Antichrist were amazing but was disappointed with Melancholia
That was marvellous!
Thanks! I've been trying to find this for the past 10 days - the BBC site won't play outside the UK.
Thanks for this.
I love that guy. I consider Melancholia as a masterpiece and Dogville as the most sincere movie ever. Oh and Dancer in the Dark powerful movie. His work is like a punch in the stomach because sometimes reality is exactly that. Some people are just not good with words and if you are a little bit smart you can absolutely tell that he isnt good with words and he says that himself. He is a great cinematographer with a unique style. Weird how nobody is canceling Kanye West who blatantly said he is a fan of hitler.....
I thought Breaking the Waves (although at times disturbing) was a great film
Don't think you ever have to convey in brackets that any von Trier film is "at times disturbing", but yes, I too think it's a great film.
Breaking the Waves and Idioterne are one of his best...
I wish I got to know and was friends with Lars. Lars, come visit Seattle sometime.
He probably won't. He's got a tonne of phobias, and that's why he refused to work with Steven Spielberg.
depression makes you feel like you are in a play. you see how everything is manipulation. the people around you dont feel like they are manipulating, but they are manipulating themselves to feel that way. no one sees what you see and its crippling.
Von trier is a genius, I don't like all his films, but I think the concept of them is pretty interesting. He creates what is outside the box.
outside the box could be a bigger box
Totally agree with Levi Everaerts' comment here. We like to think he's a dick because of his 'oddities' and some of the things he says, but when I see him sitting taking an interview, he makes sense and he's not a dick. Troubled maybe, but not a dick.
Exactly ;)
Yeah. The people saying he is a dick are probably all Americans. I am an American btw
The Idiots is his best movie. Kermode is weird.
My guess that Lars in public is all about media stunts and a bit of psychic troubles at play. He is definitely no cynical author, at least film-wise. The characters in his scripts are not postmodern ironic assholes but sincere, dedicated and often tragic individuals (Yeah, I'm thinking of Antichrist; but of Dogville, Mandalay and others too)
Redžep idt its media stunts. I think a man w severe depression and anxiety who usually didn't leave his bunker gets in trouble when you put him in a press conference. So misunderstood...
He is deeply manipulative with his characters, they are sincere individuals in very insincere movies
I'm curious what is marks thoughts on dancer in the dark a film I find to be a master piece weather von trier is good or not I have learned to separate the man from his films
He's mentioned before that he loves it.
Melancolia is incredible. Now I am a fan.
Lars is a TRUE visionary
He seems to be more cheery when being interviewed than Damon Albarn was on Jonathan Ross a few years back.
Well both Lars and Damon have their fair share of melancholy in their work over the years.
And why is it that dancer in the dark does not have a blu Ray by now I would love to see a criterion also dogville does not have one
Why the fuck did he hate breaking the waves
Too 'misogynistic' for him, almost like every other film that shows the suffering and humiliation of a tragic female character directed by a male. Kermode is a bit of a radical feminist.
He thought it was exploitatively misogynistic. He's in a minority, but I find more puzzling his hatred of The Idiots, which was a fantastic film back then and just as much so now.
***** Dogville shows female humiliation too and he says he loved it. And ha ha what about Antichrist?? If some of Von Triers movie is anti-female, then it is definitely Antichrist, which he sayd he loved. Where is the logic?
Triers has never been anti-female, and he'd gain unanimous praise for his subject matter if he was a female feminist. I love Mark Kermode as a critic, but he's talking out his ass here. If anything, the female humiliation is more extreme in Dogville, though the film ends in retribution and is blatantly liberal feminist. Kermode is simply refusing to acknowledge the fact he doesn't like a well-respected movie (Breaking the Waves) based on personal idiosyncracy, so he has to come up with a PC reason for not liking it to justify his taste.
Iain Robb
I´ve checked some of his reviews and with some of them I agree, with some of them not. I´s good that he can say what he really thinks but he is narrow minded and overreacts when he doesn´t like something. I´m just a bit scared of people who take themselves this much seriously.
I don´t find Von Triers movies feminst or anti-feminist or misogynist. I just don´t look at movies this way unless it´s obvious. Though after seeing Antichrist and Nymphomaniac I suspect him for unhelthy relation towards women. But Breaking the Waves is amazing still.
I love Mark's movie criticism even if i dont ways agree but I have to say he really doesnt understand Lars' humour. Plus Mark's face from 2.45 onwards is fantastic.
I suppose that many people commenting here about how talentless Lars Von Trier is do not understand at all what should be the things you should focus your attention on. He is not just scenarist and director but he also works on cameras and many other things. He is really creative and works with cameras in special way. Other thing is to dislike his views or something but that does not make him talentless. Pretty much is visible for example in "Dogville Confessions" (the making of Dogville). So much incompetent and subjective criticism here.
mpkoks he's also one of the greatest writers in the game
Yes, I thought the 03:40 bit was deliberate as well...clever editing.
Corny editing...
4:22 I see All of his movies that way.
Good interview. It's all about his mental condition/state. His words.
Look the guy is an eccentric, highly intelligent, and artistic. I can empathize with him because although I am not a genius. I do feel I am creative, eccentric and have some sort of social phobias as well. But I digress. Some of the words that come out of his mouth are not meant to resonate well with the layman as condescending as it sounds. For one when he gave that answer that led to designating himself as a Nazi, he did it in the context of cinema. I believe the question he was asked was something along the lines of "From where did the gothic influences in your movie come from". He immediately drew upon Hitler's third Reich because they used gothic style for their insignias in their dress code and their architecture. He is familiar with this because his father was a German, and his Mom was Jewish. Of course the guy is going to have an interest in regards to Nazi Germany; because his family in that time would be considered a paradox.
Perhaps in Europe cultural repression is ok, but mock the so called Yanks all you want, at least we have true freedom of speech. To quote our late President Harry Truman “Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear."
Von Trier just wants more freedom of expression in Europe. He uses one of the characters in his movie as he often does to promote his ideology and although one may not like it I agree with his rethoric. For instance in the movie Nymphomaniac, Gainsburg's character at one point just utters Von Trier's viewpoint. “....each time a word becomes prohibited, you remove a stone from the democratic foundation. Society demonstrates its impotence in the face of the concrete problem by removing words from the language....." You can watch that scene for yourself.
The US is one of the least free nations on planet earth. Why do you think your puppet comedy presidents are constantly telling you that you are free... land of the free... thank your comedy military for your freeeeedom.
It is very easy to tell an unfree nation.... look at the dominance of military in that country.
I completely agree. I am particularly sensitive to Nazi jokes and xenophobic humour, but I think Von Trier's sense of humour and odd way of looking at the world has always confused people. I've watched the interview several times and you can see how the media made him feel uncomfortable and he tried to bite back. Lars von Trier is a great guy and his comments never offend me. Idiot journalists. Von Trier said he'll never again grant interviews. It's a real shame.
i enjoy him
I should even have talked publicly , oh man
Von Trior seems like a funny guy I've have a drink and chill with.
Weird how this could be one of his last interviews ever....
Well yes but actually no
Wait wait wait wait... He hated breaking the waves?!? To each their own, but damn- I didn't think that movie could be hated
My favorite is Epidemic.
"My father, the father with the sperm.."
melancholia and dogville are great films. I still haven't had the guts to watch anti-christ but will do so soon. ....and o'yeah, mark nails it as usual. must start listening (re-listening) to him again.
kermode needs to learn some respect
So geniuses are above the rest of us and beyond criticism?
I love "The Idiots" , because I am and also Danish, which ehm tends to mean that I eat danish like so. That would serve anyone tasty, everywhere. :) :D
I don't think that Kermoade is being disrespectful.
He's treating Von Trier and his remarks with respect in that he is giving Von Trier a chance to explain himself.
He could've just gone into a RUclips comment section and said that Von Trier is a cunt, but he didn't.
Kermoade pays close attention to the subjects of his reviews.
He's not off the cuff.
He pays a lot of thought to these subjects.
Personally, the only mistake I see Von Trier as having made is that he tried to crack a tricky joke in his second language to a large group of people and on camera.
Plenty of jokes sail close to the wind.
If you think he's a Nazi or an asshole after what he said than you simply need him to be those things,
just like a Republican needs Obama to be a Muslim from Kenya.
No one does trolling like Lars.
3:40 is very apt timing.
LOL to the expression on Mark's face at 2:57
@BMgallery I don't get it. What "cover" is that you think i suggest?
By the way, to sympathize can also mean to feel sorry for someone.
Lars is for me greatest question and tricky answer. Unlike and appreciate him. Watched him you always have to find your own answer or stay in depressed unconection witch yourself.
The Nazi comment was blown so out of proportion. He made a bad joke, it backfired, get the hell over it. Mayo's laughable suggestion in the Melancholia review that LVT's one fucking joke was as heinous as Mel Gibson's rants is one of the reasons I have very little regard for his opinion on anything. Very good interview. An honest conversation between two intelligent and delightful egomaniacs.
Love the user name! (...Was Rappar Beghal already taken?)
Mark take that disappointed uncle look off ya mug!
If Von Trier had said that on a American Talk Show like Late Late Show or Conan Brien or David Letterman's, nobody would have said a shit about it. It's sad for him. He's a filmmaking master.
Stopped watching when the interviewer says he hated "Breaking the Waves."
Ikr, ahahah
his best film...
I love listening to Kermode talk about movies, but I firmly disagree with many of his reviews. Keep watching, it's actually quite refreshing seeing an interview that isn't about kissing the director's ass or blindly praising his works.
That being said, you are correct. Breaking the Waves is great :-)
mark kermode is an idiot. he should just watch the exorcist for the rest of his life. it's the only thing that makes him happy.
I understand that one truly doesn't understand why some other person hates a movie which oneself loves but stopping to watch an interview just because of a different opinion about a movie annoys me.
Just a guy who tried to make a joke, and only then realized it might sound inappropriate. As to what he said about Hitler, it is pretty clear he only meant that Hitler was an intereting historical figure.
Saying that life is only evil is kinda simple minded. Truth is beyond good and evil to balance life.
What makes Mark such an irritating interviewer is that his interviews are always about him, and not about the interview. Just look at 6:39 Where, after Lars opens up about his depression, Mark snarkily implies that he does not believe him, and just monologues about how he thinks that von Trier always lies in public. Even if you think somebody is lying about their depression, it is best to trust them as that little but of doubt could be enough to start a chain reaction.
Lars is a TRUE visionary. Just look at MELANCHOLIA. Haters should give him a break.
what's kind of strange is that people think if one says something or something serious, one can't be funny or tongue in cheek about it.
Most of Von Trier's films are extremely funny and comedic (and I do think Dancer in the Dark can be viewed as the great anti Sound of Music)
Doesn't mean that when the jokes are told the film isn't serious or serious art.
No problem with provocateurs. Not going to the cinema to be bored are we ?
The interviewer felt a bit condescending, but great, honest interview.
Kermode says on record alot he doesn't really believe anything Trier says, because he's to him a prankster and a troll. like he just is struggling to keep it straight.
After watching Melancholia I was depressed for two days,true story
Tbf depression has to take a far longer time than a couple of days to be called depression but I hear ya
This reminds me. I got to take a crap (Kermode).
where is the rest of the hour they allegedly spent talking to each other.
@navylaks2 Yes, maybe, but we love him in America. He is a beautiful man. Just a little eccentric.
It starts with the respect of living being then understand it, it finish that there's a survival instinct that deals with hate And destruction, Social confrontation is for ever,stick with healthy mind and body while looking at the inaccessible stars that's where redemption is.
Interesting watching this genius being judged by that annoying toilet
Adrian Owens as a critic he is professionally obliged to do so!
Much prefer this to watching journalists fellating the subject they are interviewing.
Yes Mr kermode is being particularly patient with the toilet.
Mark 'don't call me Kermode' Kermode.
haha yesssss
he sounds like Bane
for you
Strange how someone who makes such terrifying films can be so strangely likeable. David Lynch is my hero, and he makes terrifying films sometimes, and he is superlikeable... Then Michael Bay makes corny love stories and he's a terrible person.. Maybe it has to do with empathy, or lack thereof.
I can't imagine Kermode heckling anyone. He just seems like too much of a nice guy!
Lars von trier is probably a nice guy, unfortunately i never liked a single one of his movies.
Well I guess that's a matter of taste/perspective, I've liked all his movies that I've seen, some of them a lot.
Very understandable why someone wouldn't like his stuff. If I wasn't depressed all the time I would hate it lmao
So why are you watching this interiew?
someone like Uma thurman who made such a big deal when she couldn't drive properly and dragged tarantino into a mess and made it look ugly, has worked with lars von trier twice now and respects him a lot, so you should understand that he doesn't treat his actors bad but the opposite as most of them keep coming back to work with him
"yada yada yada to make it a real dish."
"what a load of crap."
Let me get this straight you don't think being sad is a part of life? Because thats what he's saying...
koopification *****
I'm just pointing out a funny cut.
Jesus Christ, you two.
Pewdiepie would go away with it so much more easily
agree...i don't even understand the offence...
Kermode looks very robotic and judgemental here...
Bergman actually DID sympathize with Hitler for real, btw. In his younger days. He was horrible on a personal level. Just google Skarsgård on Bergman, etc. Lars is a lamb, very nice guy. You know, when Lars wrote Ingmar several times and Ingmar never answered, that's just shows how naricisistic he was. He of course must have known Lars was regarded one of the best directors ever at that time, but that would not sit well with Bergman.
Lars in that Bergman documentary was absolutely embarrassing