Lars Von Trier indeed would be pretentious, ridiculously desperate to 'épater la bourgeoisie', IF he was a realist. But he directs fables, he's like Jose Saramago with a camera - the symbolism always justifies what you'll see in, say, 'Antichrist'.
In 'Nymphomaniac vol. 2', Von Trier disqualifies this kind of reviewer's relief. The message is antiintelectualist, and in yet another seesaw of Nature vs. Culture the reason is left, with no hope or consolation, with the animal that recognizes itself as 'bad person' and paints humanity with one single predicate - hypocrisy. It's like Von Trier committing suicide and leaving a letter saying that, in the end, despite all those eloquent minutes, it was all just porn delivered to people hypocritically faking to want anything more or less than that.
I could say the first one is really good. Hell, vol.2 was alright up until the end. But Von Trier just couldn't resist himself. He makes Joe murder the semiotics and silence the hermeneuticists, the exegetes, the false Candids and Christs - there's no hope, only sick rapists with nice speeches. And then Joe runs away, and with her goes Von Trier, mocking those who stay, singing hate to say I told you so, now deal with it, look how unpredictable I am, don't you try to decipher me, I'm a genius, nobody catches me etc.
OK, then. Good job, Von Trier, now everyone knows you're completely in charge of your own movies. Until the very last seconds. Congrats.
In 'Nymphomaniac vol. 2', Von Trier disqualifies this kind of reviewer's relief. The message is antiintelectualist, and in yet another seesaw of Nature vs. Culture the reason is left, with no hope or consolation, with the animal that recognizes itself as 'bad person' and paints humanity with one single predicate - hypocrisy. It's like Von Trier committing suicide and leaving a letter saying that, in the end, despite all those eloquent minutes, it was all just porn delivered to people hypocritically faking to want anything more or less than that.
I could say the first one is really good. Hell, vol.2 was alright up until the end. But Von Trier just couldn't resist himself. He makes Joe murder the semiotics and silence the hermeneuticists, the exegetes, the false Candids and Christs - there's no hope, only sick rapists with nice speeches. And then Joe runs away, and with her goes Von Trier, mocking those who stay, singing hate to say I told you so, now deal with it, look how unpredictable I am, don't you try to decipher me, I'm a genius, nobody catches me etc.
OK, then. Good job, Von Trier, now everyone knows you're completely in charge of your own movies. Until the very last seconds. Congrats.