{"id":11909,"date":"2011-05-18T19:17:35","date_gmt":"2011-05-18T18:17:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=11909"},"modified":"2011-05-18T20:21:11","modified_gmt":"2011-05-18T19:21:11","slug":"the-lars-von-trier-nazi-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2011\/05\/18\/the-lars-von-trier-nazi-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lars Von Trier Nazi Controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Director Lars Von Trier<\/strong><\/a> caused controversy by making jokes about Hitler at the Cannes press conference for his latest film.<\/p>\n

Melancholia<\/strong><\/a> is a “psychological disaster drama” about the dispute between two sisters (played by Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg) as a rogue planet hurtles towards Earth.<\/p>\n

It screened for the press this morning and whilst the Danish director usually divides opinion, it got some of the more positive notices<\/a> of his recent career.<\/p>\n

When Von Trier turned up at the press conference with the word ‘fuck’ printed on his hand<\/a> it may have seemed like his usual provocative behaviour.<\/p>\n

For about 20 minutes, the press conference passed by with the usual questions from the foreign press to the filmmaker and actors.<\/p>\n

It should be noted that questions during press conferences at Cannes can be unbelievably tedious and anodyne, which is why Von Trier perhaps decided to stir things up around the 20 minute mark.<\/p>\n

He claimed he was making an explicit porn film with Kirsten Dunst, which elicited nervous laughter from the actress and journalists, and how it would be connected with the Church (this really has to be heard for the full effect).<\/p>\n

So far, it was Von Trier playing his usual games, which I suspect he does to confuse, annoy and create publicity at the world’s biggest film festival.<\/p>\n

But 3 minutes towards the end Von Trier proceeded to make, even by his own standards, some pretty inflammatory remarks.<\/p>\n