By Travis Johnson
Look, the last time Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier (Melancholia, Antichrist, Dancer in the Dark) was at Cannes, he made a joke about being a Nazi and got himself banned. That was back in 2011. Now he’s back with a new movie, The House That Jack Built, and people are really pissed.
The first screening of von Trier’s latest, a portrait of a serial killer spanning 12 years that stars Matt Dillon, Uma Thurman, Riley Keough, and Bruno Ganz, prompted revulsion and disgust in the audience, with reportedly over 100 patrons walking out before the credits rolled.
We’re given to understand that the film is extremely graphic (shocker), with the titular Jack (Dillon) mainly preying on women and turning his victims into macabre objets d’art. As ever, Twitter has all the hot takes you could want:
I've just walked out of #LarsVonTrier premiere at #Cannes2018 because seeing children being shot and killed is not art or entertainment
— Charlie Angela (@CharlieAJ) May 14, 2018
https://twitter.com/OscarPredictor/status/996152868590714881
#LarsVonTrier @Festival_Cannes with #TheHouseThatJackBuilt is Two and a half hours of #Hell
— Baz Bamigboye @Deadline (@BazBam) May 14, 2018
I’ve never seen anything like this at a film festival. More than 100 people have walked out of Lars von Trier’s ‘The House That Jack Built,’ which depicts the mutilation of women and children. “It’s disgusting,” one woman said on her way out. #Cannes2018 pic.twitter.com/GsBGCoyHEG
— Ramin Setoodeh (@RaminSetoodeh) May 14, 2018
Still, it’s not like they weren’t warned:
I just noticed that #larsvontrier’s @Festival_Cannes film #thehousethatjackbuilt comes with a warning!!! Be afraid, be very afraid… pic.twitter.com/YEEjsuAzpg
— A.J. Goldmann (@ajgoldmann) May 13, 2018
And some – including us if we’re being honest here – are a bit like, hell, what did you expect?
Disgusted people walking out of a Lars von Trier movie about a serial killer is pretty much the definition of “dog bites man”
— Sam Adams (@SamuelAAdams) May 14, 2018
https://twitter.com/rachel_is_here/status/996161342997331968
Can we talk about the cluelessness of the Cannes audience expecting to be mildly entertained by a lars von trier film about a serial killer lmao
— Juli Lewin (@JuliLewin) May 14, 2018
https://twitter.com/charles_kinbote/status/996166011421413377
Because, y’know, he’s Lars von fucking Trier.
Still it looks like there’s a happy ending – for old mate Lars at least:
Despite walkouts and groans during a few more brutal scenes, the film received a six-minute long standing ovation in the theater https://t.co/pPFgpUEmwK
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) May 14, 2018
Honestly? Can’t wait to see this one.
