Why does the bear shit in the forest
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About Lars von Trier's necessity
"Writing a book that critically and curiously undertakes the task of showing why Lars von Trier is a strong and interesting filmmaker, despite the fact that so many of his films on the outside engage in rather banal boundary crossing, is a good idea. Even better is the fact that in Rösing's case it is precisely about explaining an experience of quality. She interprets the life story out of these films, yes, but basically it is about a wholehearted attempt to put into words why they are so defining, so beautiful, so painful and so unforgettable, these films (...) The interpretations (...) stand as rich, creative and opening approaches to an artistry that is complex enough to withstand a round in Rösing's terminological tombola (... ) sincerity, temperament and infectious enthusiasm. Most of all, it is filled with excess and the joy of thinking. It is a cup of tea it is possible to appreciate."
Bernhard Ellefsen, Morgenbladet
"(...) it is certainly interesting and challenging when Trier films such as 'Breaking the Waves', 'Dancer in the Dark' and 'Melancholia' are shelved and subjected to various scans and psychoanalytical interpretations, where Munk Rösing also elegantly weaves personal experiences into the theoretical discourse (...) aptly and wittily, when Munk Rösing presents the Lacan concept of 'the obscene superego' to characterize Trier's mischievousness and insistent boundary crossings: It is the agency within us that dictates us to do what we should not do. And this instance has always been hyperactive in Lars von Trier's life and work. Just as he has always, with an expression borrowed from Kierkegaard, been a defiant naysayer, although it is cleverly pointed out that "he who consistently defies authority depends on having an authority to defy"
Von Trier's films often seem to have a finger at conventionality as their point of departure: Now we have to have fun, now we have to burn the witch, now we have to cut the clitoris, now we have to see a woman perform an abortion on herself, now we have to self-up - sacrificial hearts of gold drive the melodrama into the parodic, now it has to be filmed with a hundred cameras or ultra-slow, now it has to be told and explained with voice-over and lexical clips, now I have to do everything that you learn at the Film School, that you must not. But out of this provocation grow unique cinematic works of art with their own visual necessity.
Von Trier explores desire, abuse, anxiety, depression, sexuality, nature, the art of cinema and late capitalist society with the same unbridled urge as the bear shits in the forest. With inspiration from thinkers such as Søren Kierkegaard, Jacques Lacan and Walter Benjamin and with an attention to the films' narratives as well as their idiom, the book provides analyzes of two of von Trier's trilogies: the Golden Heart Trilogy and the Depression Trilogy.
"Writing a book that critically and curiously undertakes the task of showing why Lars von Trier is a strong and interesting filmmaker, despite the fact that so many of his films on the outside engage in rather banal boundary crossing, is a good idea. Even better is the fact that in Rösing's case it is precisely about explaining an experience of quality. She interprets the life story out of these films, yes, but basically it is about a wholehearted attempt to put into words why they are so defining, so beautiful, so painful and so unforgettable, these films (...) The interpretations (...) stand as rich, creative and opening approaches to an artistry that is complex enough to withstand a round in Rösing's terminological tombola (... ) sincerity, temperament and infectious enthusiasm. Most of all, it is filled with excess and the joy of thinking. It is a cup of tea it is possible to appreciate."
Bernhard Ellefsen, Morgenbladet
"(...) it is certainly interesting and challenging when Trier films such as 'Breaking the Waves', 'Dancer in the Dark' and 'Melancholia' are shelved and subjected to various scans and psychoanalytical interpretations, where Munk Rösing also elegantly weaves personal experiences into the theoretical discourse (...) aptly and wittily, when Munk Rösing presents the Lacan concept of 'the obscene superego' to characterize Trier's mischievousness and insistent boundary crossings: It is the agency within us that dictates us to do what we should not do. And this instance has always been hyperactive in Lars von Trier's life and work. Just as he has always, with an expression borrowed from Kierkegaard, been a defiant naysayer, although it is cleverly pointed out that "he who consistently defies authority depends on having an authority to defy"
♥♥♥♥ Peter Schepelern, Politiken
When Lars von Trier was asked in an interview: "Why do you make films?", he replied: "Why does the bear shit in the forest? Because something has to come out.”Von Trier's films often seem to have a finger at conventionality as their point of departure: Now we have to have fun, now we have to burn the witch, now we have to cut the clitoris, now we have to see a woman perform an abortion on herself, now we have to self-up - sacrificial hearts of gold drive the melodrama into the parodic, now it has to be filmed with a hundred cameras or ultra-slow, now it has to be told and explained with voice-over and lexical clips, now I have to do everything that you learn at the Film School, that you must not. But out of this provocation grow unique cinematic works of art with their own visual necessity.
Von Trier explores desire, abuse, anxiety, depression, sexuality, nature, the art of cinema and late capitalist society with the same unbridled urge as the bear shits in the forest. With inspiration from thinkers such as Søren Kierkegaard, Jacques Lacan and Walter Benjamin and with an attention to the films' narratives as well as their idiom, the book provides analyzes of two of von Trier's trilogies: the Golden Heart Trilogy and the Depression Trilogy.