The House That Jack Built

Another film by Lars von Trier done very much in the flavor of his previous picture, Nymphomaniac. It is, in my opinion, much less uneven and messy, but still too undisciplined to feel fully realized and satisfying. It ranges from brilliant to dubious constantly, while Nymphomaniac, despite also containing brilliant segments, sinks to cringe-worthy more than once.

Similarly to Nymphomaniac, where our main character is exploring a central part of her personality, in the case of that film her sexuality, by confessing her history to another character, all intertwined with commentary from philosophy and religion, here it's a murderer confessing the central part of his personality, his killer nature, to another character, all again mixed with dialogues on philosophy, art, etc. So in the style and approach the films are quite similar. Maybe even more that I would prefer, because Nymphomaniac didn't rub well off me, as the premise took precedence over proper story development.

The story in The House That Jack Built again is told in episodic manner, here even more so with the narrative being split into separate "incidents", and it often feels too artificial, staged, and improbable. I'm not sure how much this was premeditated and intentional. As I already mentioned, it feels too often quite implausible and ridiculous. It makes you question director's true intentions with this approach. Is he toying with the nature of the film medium, with audience expectations, or is simply using this narrative instrument to make a statement on art and (his own) filmmaking? It's hard to say. The approach however, has a quite potent result, which is in my opinion accidental. It tapped on that feeling of reality being stranger than fiction, and that impression of life being utterly indifferent to people doing evil things. But how the movie was executed, it makes you feel that this aspect of the film was a mere accident of the director's approach, and not a fully realized vision. As previ...

Self-indulgent? Absolutely. Disturbing? Partly. Hilarious? Definitely

Jack is a part of me. But I'm not a psychopath. I'm pretty sure. I've been diagnosed since I was six. So I think I'm safe to be with.

• Lars von Trier; "Lars von Trier: 'I know how to kill'" (David Jenkins); Little White Lies (December 13, 2018)

Ostensibly a psychological horror/serial killer film, in reality the latest from professional provocateur Lars von Trier is more a dark comedy about the nature of art, capped off with a quite literal descent into Hell. As much an interrogation of his own dark psychology as an "up yours" to his detractors and the oft-levelled accusations of misogyny and nihilism, von Trier all but dares you to be offended, whether by the violence done to a duckling, the cold-blooded murder of children, the verbal degradation of a woman, the critique of the #MeToo movement, the celebration of Albert Speer, or the mockery of American gun culture. Partially self-reflexive in nature, the film suggests a parallel between murder and artistic creation, with von Trier offering more of an apologia than an apology for his oeuvre. When he's really on his game - Breaking the Waves (1996), Dancer in the Dark (2000), Dogville (2003), Antichrist (2009), Melancholia (2011) - von Trier is capable of depicting horrific violence alongside psychologically complex characters and scenes of devastating emotional veracity. House, which is far too long and tends towards self-indulgence, doesn't come anywhere near those heights, and is thus more open to accusations of empty provocation, but von Trier has definitely tapped into "something" here, and, love it or hate it, you will react to it.

As the film begins, we hear (but don't see) a conversation between Jack (an emotionless Matt Dillon) and "Verge" (the always superb Bruno Ganz) as Jack attempts to defend and justify his serial killing. Choosing to discuss five random but illustrative "incidents" over a p...