I always just assumed his tattoo was a self-reminder to masturbate, much like how you might tack a sticky note saying "pay the gas bill" to the bathroom mirror.
Apparently Von Trier has realized a) that he’s not so hot at verbally digging himself out of a hole, and b) a frenzied media is more than happy to give you a gas-powered shovel to help you out. Now that police in Denmark are knocking on his door and the French city of Grasse has decided to keep kicking this hornets nest, he’s decided to shut his mouth for good. Today he released a statement via Empire in which he admits to being unable to express his more controversial ideas clearly, and will simply stop making public statements of any kind. Von Trier is going Wachowski (the no press part, not the sex change part).
“Today at 2pm I was questioned by the Police of North Zealand in connection with charges made by the prosecution of Grasse in France from August 2011 regarding a possible violation of prohibition in French law against justification of war crimes.”
“The investigation covers comments made during the press conference in Cannes in May 2011. Due to these serious accusations I have realized that I do not possess the skills to express myself unequivocally and I have therefore decided from this day forth to refrain from all public statements and interviews.”
Lars von Trier
Avedøre, 5. October 2011
You’ll remember that during a Melancholia press event at Cannes, Von Trier stumbled his way into a clumsy point about Hitler and being capable of empathizing with his emotions, as well as being able to appreciate art generated by people promoting evil causes. Cue the shit storm. Now many months later it turns out the French have not forgotten, and the director is actually being charged for violating a statute that makes it a crime to publicly justify war crimes.
Mel Gibson would be fucked in France.
I can’t imagine much coming from this. Either Von Trier sticks to his word and becomes another secluded filmmaker, or he’ll just be more discriminating about doing the hail of press that usually follows a films release. Frankly, it’s as hard to imagine him keeping his trap shut as actually going to jail for such a thing.
You got opinions? Tweet them at me or drop them in the comments and I promise no one will charge you as a criminal for them.
6 comments
Technically, we have freedom of speech in this country. But try saying anything controversial (or creating a contorversial piece of art) in public and you suffer a huge backlash. Case in point, the talkbacks everywhere (not just this site) for the Human Centipede films. The level of anger in the people saying the films shounldn’t even exist, that people who enjoy them are criminals… all over a work of FICTION, people!
And then a crowd in a political debate applauds the state sanctioned murder of a real human being. Great way to keep your priorities straight America!
That backlash is, in fact, a function of freedom of speech, not evidence that it doesn’t exist.
Good point, Three Oranges.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that our freedom of speech exits for everyone and everything, even those icky films/books/ideas that we don’t agree with. If everyone fundamentally understood this, then the level of vitriol from the haters would be dialed down significantly.
This isn’t only bullshit, it’s scary bullshit. I’m not a fan of ANTICHRIST, or of Von Trier’s body of work in general, but as he stated, himself, he simply didn’t articulate himself well enough on an ultra-sensitive topic. In fact, Trier appears to be more the victim of a new breed of sociological fascism (ah-ha, see the irony there?) masquerading as political correctness.
I’m staying the hell away from France. Some off-the-cuff remark about Hitler’s dog Blondi would bring a squad of closeted Nazis crashing into my hotel room.
I think the vitriol is those people expressing THEIR opinions. As I’ve told my children, the world would be a better place if we all spoke with more civility while sporting a thicker skin, but living in a society where people can freely express their opinions is a lot of work.
I agree artistic expression should have no boundaries, but that doesn’t mean we are all obliged to turn a blind eye if we find something to be vulgar/inflamatory/insensitive. Once your art is out in public, it’s fair game to be scrutinized and criticized – especially if the artist’s MO is to be controversial, like Von Trier.
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