An Ultra-Violent Serial Killer Movie Has Sparked A Mass Walkout At Cannes Film Festival
The film has been described as "torturous" and "vile".
Notorious Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier has sparked controversy at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, with more than 100 audience members reportedly walking out of the first screening of his ultra-violent new serial killer movie The House That Jack Built.
The film stars Matt Dillon as a murderous architect, and reportedly features a number of extremely graphic scenes including one in which he shoots two children with a hunting rifle and another in which he mutilates a woman before killing her. Uma Thurman and Riley Keough also have roles in the film, although I can’t imagine it ends particularly well for them.
A number of people who saw the film at either the Monday night premiere or the subsequent media screening have described it on social media as “disgusting”, “vile” and “torturous”. Which is probably going to be great publicity for it, tbh.
Lars von Trier’s ‘The House That Jack Built’ was one of the most unpleasant movie-going experiences of my life. #Cannes2018
— Ramin Setoodeh (@RaminSetoodeh) May 14, 2018
Just left Lars Von Trier’s The House that Jack Built.
Gross. Pretentious. Vomitive. Torturous. Pathetic. #Cannes2018— The Oscar Predictor (@OscarPredictor) May 14, 2018
Walked out on LarsvonTrier . Vile movie. Should not have been made. Actors culpable
— Showbiz 411 (@showbiz411) May 14, 2018
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
Talked to someone who walked out of the Lars von Trier film at Cannes: “He mutilates Riley Keough, he mutilates children… and we are all there in formal dress expected to watch it?”
— Kyle Buchanan (@kylebuchanan) May 14, 2018
The reaction has not been universally negative, however. Those who made it all the way to the end of the first screening gave von Trier a standing ovation, while others have defended the filmmaker on social media.
THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT: another trip through the abattoir of Lars von Trier’s anxieties, this one a damning self-critique of / backhanded apology for the compulsive violence of artistic creation. the ending is a scorcher. very sorry to say that I loved this. #Cannes2018
— david ehrlich (@davidehrlich) May 15, 2018
THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT: where NYMPHOMANIAC posited getting fucked as futile existential soul-searching, this one pins its central metaphor on murder. A sick film from a sick man, and of course it’s amazing.
— Charles Bramesco (@intothecrevasse) May 15, 2018
For what it’s worth, Von Trier is no stranger to scandal. His previous films include the extremely graphic Antichrist and Nymphomaniac. He was also briefly banned from Cannes in 2011 for making a joke about being a Nazi and sympathising with Hitler following the premiere of his movie Melancholia.
You can watch the trailer for The House That Jack Built below.