The House That Jack Built  ★★★½ or maybe ★

LARS Von Triers’ latest film The House That Jack Built deserves to be debated.

What a vile, pretentious waste of time that was.

I disagree. I think it was fascinating. Tough to watch at times, but it is a deep dive into the twisted mind of a serial killer. Also Von Trier is…

No, it’s not tough, it’s sadistic. A person dragged behind a car until their face comes off, a woman’s breasts being cut off, dead childrens’ bodies being posed?

If you let me finish…Von Trier is a provocateur for sure.  Those moments are there to shock, but why the film is so troubling to many people is because the serious is juxtaposed with the humorous.

What? There’s humour in seeing people being strangled to death close-up?

Not in those particular moments, no, but in others for sure. You don’t think it’s funny that he ties a body to the back of his van and drives away right in front of a cop? Or due to his OCD he has to go back to a crime scene four times because he keeps thinking there is more blood to clean up?

No, I actually don’t think it’s funny because it doesn’t come across that way and I can’t understand how you think it does?

The comedy is very black and very European. Films like this are interesting. It’s had four and one star reviews which makes it interesting to consider why it’s such a polarising film

Why is because some people like you try to justify watching violent films?

It’s just a movie. It goes for more than two-and-a-half hours and the violence takes up a small part.

No, it presents murder as potentially a work of art, similar to painting a beautiful picture or building a magnificent house. Nobody thinks that way. There is no counter-argument.

How do you know that serial killers don’t think that way? And yes there is counter-argument in the discussion we hear between scenes with the character played by Bruno Ganz. And what about Matt Dillon? He is great in the main part.

I guess he’s fine but to what end? I mean hardly anyone is going to see this film except hard core horror fans.

Von Trier has never made films for wide appeal. In fact I don;t think he cares what audiences think. It’s not a standard genre film. Some horror fans will like it whereas others will think it’s boring and too intellectual.

It thinks it’s being intellectual but just ends up being a lot of mumbo-jumbo that doesn’t make any sense.

That’s ridiculous; it’s an amazing script. You didn’t appreciate the film-making skill involved? What about the audacity of the final Dante-esque descent into Hell?

I was asleep by then. Boring, sadistic and pointless. And, I nearly forgot, the segment on the Nazis comparison was disgusting.

Von Trier has a history with that subject and was being provocative for the sake of it, but I agree, it isn’t needed and doesn’t add anything to the story. But, like his best films Breaking The Waves, Antichrist and Nymphomaniac, this is frightening, challenging, audacious and frustrating, but never boring.

I must have seen a different film.

***WARNING***

This is a very confronting film with scenes that will shock so be prepared.