--- title: "Antichrist: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/antichrist/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/antichrist" critics_score: 52 critics_reviews: 18 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Antichrist (2009): what the critics said Critics' score 52 from 18 reviews: 6 positive, 4 mixed, 8 negative. The consensus on Antichrist is mixed, leaning negative, with critics sharply divided over the value of its provocations. Praise clusters around Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe’s committed performances, which several reviews value even when rejecting the film around them. The forest imagery and atmospheric cinematography also draw approval across the divide. Supporters find a troubling, unusually personal treatment of grief and depression, with horror imagery that gives those feelings force. The disagreement centres on whether the graphic violence develops these concerns or overwhelms a thin, incoherent story. Several detractors find the film boring rather than shocking; others object principally to its treatment of women. Time Out sees sympathy for the female character, while The Skinny finds outright hatred of women. The spread is wide: what admirers accept as honest psychological exposure, hostile reviews regard as self-indulgence or a calculated attempt to provoke outrage. ## Financial Times — Nigel Andrews Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 22 July 2009. Antichrist is a fairground ride through the brain of a genius, both nightmarish and apocalyptic, extraordinarily beautiful in its tracking imagery through the sinister forest. No one escapes chastisement in this distrustful, depression-amplified vision of humankind. [Read the review](https://www.ft.com/content/c5d21ac4-76dc-11de-b23c-00144feabdc0) ## Time Out — Dave Calhoun Rating 4/5. 21 July 2009. The critic describes a troubling but refreshing sense of an artist uncloaked in this primal scream of a film about grief and gender war. They single out the honest provocations and sympathy for the female character for praise, while noting the wildly shifting reactions it provokes. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/antichrist) ## Empire — Kim Newman Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 1 July 2009. The critic views it as von Trier's horror film, an anthology of horror-art references with committed acting and moments of beauty and terror, though it deliberately splits audiences. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/antichrist-review/) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 21 October 2009. Ebert highlights the courage and conviction of Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg in their extreme roles, treating the film partly as a document of their performances. He sees it as a provocative exploration of evil, grief turning to despair, and human cruelty, with the actors elevating von Trier's vision. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/antichrist-2009) ## Little White Lies — Jonathan Crocker Rating 4/3/3. 23 July 2009. The critic finds the film a powerful, daring and fractured work of audacious on-screen catharsis that confirms von Trier as the mad master-imp of world cinema. They single out the outrageous abandon with which the director expresses his psychological traumas for praise, while noting the graphic violence that overwhelms any thematic message. [Read the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/antichrist) ## The New Yorker — Anthony Lane Fi1m's normalised score 55/100 (inferred from the text). 19 October 2009. Lane acknowledges the film's shocking provocation and silliness but finds it makes sense as a study of the link between loss and lust, praising Gainsbourg's dramatic dominance and certain striking images. He notes von Trier's terror of female power and the extremity of the violence while valuing some credible emotional intensity. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/10/26/trouble-in-eden) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 24 July 2009. The film is a smirking contraption engineered to provoke liberal outrage about violence, misogyny and censorship. Von Trier is a talented mischief-maker who bodyslams his way back into the limelight with this nasty, clever hoax disguised as a film. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/jul/24/antichrist-lars-von-trier-review) ## The Independent — Anthony Quinn Fi1m's normalised score 35/100 (inferred from the text). 23 July 2009. The critic finds the film a baffling, nightmarish provocation that assaults the viewer but ultimately proves boring and incoherent despite strong technical elements and committed performances. [Read the review](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/antichrist-18-1758688.html) ## Screen Daily Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 2 June 2009. Festival review. The critic calls it a baroque horror essay that is too loopy and coarse for art-house audiences and genre buffs alike. They single out the intense but misleading Gothic trimmings around the gender-war theme and the turn to torture-porn tactics for complaint. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/-antichrist/5001291.article) ## The New York Times — A.O. Scott Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 22 October 2009. Scott calls the film ponderous, conceptually thin, and dull rather than genuinely scandalous or upsetting, despite its graphic sex and violence. He singles out Charlotte Gainsbourg's raw, anguished performance in the first half as its strongest element amid an otherwise dubious exercise. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/movies/23antichrist.html) ## Total Film — Jamie Graham Rating 1/5. 23 June 2009. The critic suspects the film is either a sincere personal work or a prank designed to outrage, delivering exactly the extreme reaction von Trier seeks but awarding the lowest rating. [Read the review](https://www.gamesradar.com/antichrist-review/) ## Evening Standard Fi1m's normalised score 10/100 (inferred from the text). 10 April 2012. The critic dismisses the film as a pretentious, boring abomination driven by the director's self-indulgent fantasies and contempt, lacking any redeeming artistic value. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/antichrist-is-shockingly-bad-7415626.html) ## Slant Magazine — Ed Gonzalez 21 September 2009. The film is offensive yet too transparent to shock, interesting only briefly as an act of confession. Von Trier transplants sexist myths into a modern context without wrestling with them, instead arrogantly defending his own sins. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/antichrist/) ## The Hollywood Reporter 18 May 2009. Festival review. The critic calls it the least artistically successful von Trier film, with grandiose ideas overwhelming the modest story and commercial prospects slim. It works better visually but falls apart when trying to tell a story with real people. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/antichrist-film-review-93174/) ## Eye for Film — Chris Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 24 June 2009. The critic finds the film a powerful psychological horror that lingers through its manipulation of trauma and sexuality rather than gore. Von Trier's approach to grief, nature as a symbol of fear, and extreme imagery is singled out as a challenging but valuable experience for horror aficionados. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/antichrist-film-review-by-chris) ## /Film — Brendon Connelly Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 14 July 2009. The critic calls the film essential and conceptually stunning for its raw exploration of grief, depression, and misogyny allegations through explicit folklore-horror imagery, while criticizing technical issues like poor handheld camerawork and editing that disrupt immersion. The personal and confrontational nature is singled out for praise. [Read the review](https://www.slashfilm.com/504509/antichrist-movie-review/) ## The Wrap — Eric Kohn Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 17 May 2009. Festival review. The critic finds the film a supremely audacious and graphically extreme nightmare that begins as an elegant grief drama before descending into twisted horror and abstraction. While acknowledging its misogyny and capacity to shock, the review ultimately praises its calculated design and sheer audacity. [Read the review](https://www.thewrap.com/nutty-nightmare-lars-von-trier-3136/) ## The Playlist — Rodrigo Perez Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 19 May 2009. Festival review. The review describes the film as an exorcism of von Trier's inner turmoil following depression, praising its craft, impressionistic sequences, and arresting violence while noting its provocative and dubious symbolic elements. The opening, closing, and therapy scenes are highlighted as elevating amid the brutality. [Read the review](https://theplaylist.net/cannes-09-review-lars-von-triers-20090519/) ## Digital Spy — Mayer Nissim Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 21 July 2009. Dafoe and Gainsbourg deliver powerful, believable performances that keep the film watchable, but the story is shallow and fails to say anything meaningful about grief or the human condition despite its provocative elements. [Read the review](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a164906/antichrist/) ## The Skinny — Gail Tolley Rating ★★. 17 July 2009. The film pulses with outright hatred and disgust for women rather than mere misogynistic undertones, with an inconsistent tone that veers into comedy and graphic genital mutilation that disrupts coherence. Atmospheric cinematography provides the only real merit. [Read the review](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/antichrist) ## Den of Geek — Rupert de Rating 3 out of 5. 27 July 2009. The critic sees the film as neither masterpiece nor mere grot-shocker but a deliberate hoax and prank by von Trier. It is visually striking and daring in places but ultimately shallow and mocking of the audience. [Read the review](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/antichrist-review/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/antichrist.md