Like so much of von Trier’s work it has moments of utter brilliance and moments you want to throw in the garbage—and not just because of the scandalous nature of it but as an artistic evaluation. Parts get preachy and don’t mesh formally and some parts drag
The formal narrative structure is a story told in 5 incidents with titles—not unlike Breaking the Waves with the chapter break and reoccurring titles
The voice-over is unique— it’s not just Matt Dillion’s “Jack”—it’s like a dialogue with Bruno Ganz’s “Verge” – a Satan-like character. I think it’s a bit of a variation on Bergman’s The Seventh Seal with Death and von Sydow having an ongoing discussion throughout the narrative
Reoccurring use of red color motif in the believable production design- Jack’s hoodie, the van here, yes the blood,
a choice in the color scheme
Like the ending titles of Dogville we have the use of David Bowie music here with “Fame” used several time
Formal reoccurrence of the building of a house (he’s an engineer), Dylan-like holding cards with words on it, discussion of art, his OCD– this, the clear authorship in the work, and magnificent (back-loaded towards the end of the film) imagery make it impossible not to archive
theme and variation here with this same camera shot and metaphor
a formalist’s dream
impressive imagery here
There are scenes that just die—stop the film in it’s tracks– like the long simple shot, reverse-shot back and forth with Dillion and victim played by Siobhan Fallon Hogan
Von Trier is, as always, a provocateur—really horrific content (lack and his trademark lack of subtlety is why the film has a 42 on metacritic)
yes there’s dialogue-laden scenes that stop the film completely- but there are also plenty of these
Von Trier is angry— he’s using a sledgehammer here- I see some of Pasolini’s Salo here—tackles the hypocrisy of hunting— but the main target here is really human nature—or God and human nature. Von Trier says Christ covers up for this serial killer by washing away the tracks of blood/evidence. Think what you will of this- but this is consistent with von Trier’s nihilistic worldview in Dancer in the Dark, Dogville, Antichrist, Melancholia– his best work
von Trier is not subtle but not all art needs to be subtle. He draws out his point. People here are awful, when Riley Keough screams for help nobody comes, she calls Jack the Antichrist. We are in Dogville
again like all of his work the victims are women, this is tough (but again, inarguably consistent with his work as an auteur)—on one hand you can accuse him of misogyny (a description, not a critique of the art) but I also think von Trier would argue they are victims to these awful men
Drawing out the point is one thing but in The House that Jack Built von Trier has a tendency to lecture. We’re at 152 minutes and there are 30 that are didactic. We have Hitler footage here, he uses archive footage from his own films—it turns into a bit of an essay film of post-Weekend Godard in portions and that’s not a compliment
The decent into hell portion (Dante) is visually stunning and the strongest part of the film. Dillion’s Jack is with Ganz now (not just as a voice but in body) and they’re on ladders in hell amongst a sea of bodies like the shot with bodies in the woods in Antichrist. It’s beautiful- avant-garde. One of the shots there’s a sea of red (only a partial pic here- doesn’t do it justice) that look like Monica Vitti getting swallowed up by the red factory in Antonioni’s Red Desert
they’re on ladders in hell among a sea of bodies like the shot with bodies in the woods in Antichrist. It’s beautiful- avant-garde.
One of the shots there’s a sea of red (only a partial pic here- doesn’t do it justice) that look like Monica Vitti getting swallowed up by the red factory in Antonioni’s Red Desert
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