The Lars Von Trier Collection

Description

Collection of four films by acclaimed Danish director Lars von Trier. In ‘Nymphomaniac – Volumes I and II’ (2013), when the well-read and knowledgeable bachelor Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård) finds a beaten and bruised young woman in an alleyway, he takes her home to his flat to tend to her injuries. The woman introduces herself as Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg), a self-diagnosed nymphomaniac, whose carefree and hedonistic lifestyle has led to her situation. Seligman presses Joe to tell her story and she proceeds to recount her experiences, from her childhood up to the present, where sex has been the most important thing in her life. The supporting cast includes Shia La Beouf, Christian Slater, Uma Thurman and Willem Dafoe. In ‘Melancholia’ (2011), the film’s first act opens with the wedding of Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Michael (Alexander Skarsgård): a sumptuous affair paid for by Justine’s sister Claire (Gainsbourg) and her husband John (Kiefer Sutherland). However, when Justine notices a strange star in the sky, she starts behaving oddly and the wedding is ruined. The film’s second act follows Justine, now extremely weak and ill, after she goes to live with her sister. As Claire and John struggle to deal with Justine’s condition, astronomy buff Claire becomes increasingly concerned about a large blue planet that is threatening to collide with the earth. Charlotte Rampling and John Hurt co-star. ‘Antichrist’ (2009) stars Dafoe and Gainsbourg as a couple grieving the death of their young son. The mother is initially admitted to hospital following the incident, but her husband – a therapist – insists on taking her to their remote forest cabin, ‘Eden’, and looking after her himself. Presented in four chapters with a prologue and epilogue, the film charts the often violent and disturbing course of the couple’s anguish as they immerse themselves in nature and act out their deep suffering in a sequence of increasingly bizarre and brutal rituals. Lastly, ‘Breaking the Waves’ (1996) is set in 1970’s Scotland, and follows young Bess (Emily Watson) as she meets and falls in love with oil rig worker Jan (Skarsgård). Despite opposition, the couple marry, and when Jan returns to the rigs Bess counts the days until his return. However, their relationship is put to the test when Jan is paralysed in an accident and he urges Bess to take another lover and relate their sexual acts to him…