"But come on, I'm not for the Second World War! And I'm not against Jews. Well, Susanne Bier is... No, no, even Susanne Bier. Ehm... that was also a joke. I am of course, ehm... very much for Jews. No, not too much, because Israel is a pain in the ass, but... eh, still, ehm... how can I get out of this sentence?"
Sweet honey darling... Just stop talking...
Article in New York Times:
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/18/lars-von-trier-kicks-ups-a-cannes-controvery/
Entire press conference:
http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/mediaPlayer/11391.html
Update: Just heard an interview with Lars von Trier after he had been banned from Cannes: "Oh, so you heard that I have become a persona non grata? Yeah, my parents would be proud of me..."
I love the look on the beautiful blonde's face on several of Trier's comments. If ever a look said, "Please, fool, shut the fuck up," that was it.
ReplyDelete"No wait...did I say I liked HITLER? No, no, no--SPEER, I liked Albert Speer! I need a re-do, you verdammen Juden!" Hahaha--maybe he wasn't fully aware of what he was saying, perhaps goes to show the dangers of trying to speak English when you're not 100% comfortable with it. What happens now, if the film is nominated for Best Picture, or Best Foreign Film next year? I can just hear the crowd's reaction. How well I remember the hostility provoked by Vanessa Redgrave's "Zionist Hooligans" remark when she accepted her statuette many years ago. But how interesting would these film events be without someone to put their foot in their mouth, and even more impressive feet when you have your head up your ass already?
ReplyDeleteMaxWymz
I'm calling him Lars von Troll from now on. I've reached the point with him where he's shown himself so utterly bereft of, well, anything that I'm starting to question those works of his I actually *did* like and wonder was there anything actually to them.
ReplyDeleteOn the plus side, Terrence Malick is probably happy that this has distracted people from the less than universally rapturous reception of Tree of Life.
I don't get it! Why is everyone so upset with this? I think it's rather refreshing that von Trier steps out of the political correctness that totally rules our time. Many of the top nazis, including Hitler were in fact very interesting if also often very frightning characters, and they were not 100% wrong all the time, every day of the week. Had von Trier prepared a little more for this it would have come across better. Random half positive mumblings about the nazis simply doesn't work, especially not in France which was deeply affected by nazi mayhem back in the day.
ReplyDeleteMykal:
ReplyDeleteKirsten Dunst, the lead actress of Trier's new film Melancholia (see my post about my hype for that film) :)
MaxWymz:
I heard that the film will still compete, but he will not be able to win since he can't receive the Palm D'Or, being a persona non grata. So... They can cash in on Kirsten Dunst but still throw Trier out into the gutter.
James1511:
Haha, he IS a troll! The Cannes Troll! But I wouldn't reconsider his films, I love some of them deeply although I'm not a fan of his dogma films. He's still a magnificent artist, even though he's mental.
Jonas Nordin:
Haha, I guess the Scandinavian sense of irony doesn't translate into bad English. He tried to joke, realized half way that it didn't get across, then tried to make the joke more obvious, noticed that the reaction got worse, got thrown out. Embarrassing. But entertaining, haha.
I'm not certain that simply expressing an opinion, no matter how stupid or how badly delivered in a second language, is a fair excuse for someone to be kicked out of anywhere--certainly not someplace that calls itself a "Free" country which, the last I heard, France still was.
ReplyDeleteBut perhaps Cannes is a place like some of our restaurants, with a little sign that says "We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to Anybody." They need to be careful, or perhaps the Film Festival will have to be relocated to someplace more congenial, like Norrkoping, or maybe Fucking, Austria (and what a great name that would be for a film festival!)
Kirsten Duntz! Wow! I didn't even recognize her. What a beautiful woman. I love the way she just about squirmed out of her seat during that dreadful rambling. She was definitely looking for a rock to crawl under.
ReplyDeleteFrance, a free country? Ha! Yeah, not if you're a Libyan immigrant or a Gypsy. Or a citizen of their ex-colonies. They SHOULD move the Cannes festival to Norrköping.
ReplyDeleteMykal:
She's too beautiful. She needs to be punished. Cat fight!
Ah, well--when I said "Free Country" I meant that you could "Say" whatever you wanted, not "Do" whatever you wanted...in that case, there ARE NOT "free countries," not even the one I'm standing in right now. Sorry, should have qualified it...
ReplyDelete"She's too beautiful. She needs to be punished. Cat fight!"
ReplyDeleteI didn't mean to suggest, even for a moment, that she held a candle to yourself! ;-)
Oh please... lol What he said was hilarious at the very least, and unprofessional at most. But racist? Really? I wouldn't go that far.
ReplyDelete