During a water-skiing accident in 2007, Charlotte Gainsbourg suffered a blow to the head, resulting in a cerebral hemorrhage similar to the one that caused the tragic death of actress Natasha Richardson this year. Emergency brain surgery saved the now-38-year-old actress' life, but it took her nearly a year to recuperate.
For her return to the big screen, Gainsbourg chose "Antichrist," opening in Los Angeles on Friday, Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier's staggering and surreal examination of grief, faith and sexuality. The director -- known for incendiary, female-focused works such as "Breaking the Waves," "Dancer in the Dark" and "Dogville" -- made the film in part to rid himself of a crippling depression, creating an unusual mix of gore and allegory, visceral violence and explicit sex, tense psychodrama and outrageously hallucinatory imagery.
As spare in its storytelling as it is baroque in its emotions, the film follows a couple, played by Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe (identified simply as "she" and "he") as they grapple with the death of their infant son -- who fell out of a window while they were making love -- by heading to a remote cabin in the woods. Their grief eventually mutates into twisted, primal confrontations that will outdo any recent horror film for pure visceral shock, leaving audiences to wonder if they have just witnessed an expression of blunt exploitation, transgressive art, or perhaps a mixture of both.
"The thing is, I didn't want to be cautious with this film," said Gainsbourg, nestled on the floor of a suite at the Chateau Marmont, explaining her decision to make this film her first project after her near-death experience. "I didn't want to be scared of [bruising] myself. I just wanted to go as far as I could. . . . I had to prove that I was able to do this."
"Antichrist" has certainly made a mark on the international film festival circuit, causing an intense emotional reaction from audiences and critics alike. After the film's tumultuous premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, journalists demanded that Von Trier explain and justify his movie during the press conference. Later, Gainsbourg was awarded the best actress prize by a jury that included Isabelle Huppert, Asia Argento and Robin Wright Penn. At the New York Film Festival, an audience member reportedly passed out during a screening.
Coming of the 'Antichrist'
