The House That Jack Built
Director: Lars von Trier
Writer: Lars von Trier, Jenle Hallund
Cast: Matt Dillon, Bruno Ganz, Uma Thurman, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Sofie Gråbøl, Riley Keough, Jeremy Davies
Seen on: 21.6.2023

Content Note: misogyny

Plot:
Jack (Matt Dillon) is a serial killer, telling the story of his life to Verge (Bruno Ganz). Or rather, the story of his killings and his thoughts behind them. Jack kills almost exclusively women, collecting their bodies in a walk-in freezer. He has something grand in mind with them, believing himself an artist.

I am not a huge fan of von Trier. I found Antichrist to be misogynist crap, albeit beautiful, and Melancholia only half of a good film. But when The House That Jack Built popped up on my streaming service, I decided to give him another go. Unfortunately it is the worst film of von Trier’s yet (well, of those three, I haven’t seen the others) with all of the misogyny of Antichrist but none of the stunning images and a vapid sense of cruelty to round things off. I stopped watching after an hour or so because I just couldn’t stand it anymore.

It’s easy to draw parallels between Jack and von Trier himself. The movie seems to beg for the audience to do this, to consider Jack’s killings – which he insists is art – with the movies von Trier has made. The rhetoric Jack uses, the criticism he answers (of, among other things, misogyny), seem tailored to the criticisms von Trier himself has faced. This could be an interesting approach to the film, if it was actually done in the mode of self-reflection. Instead von Trier sticks with provocation as his MO, like a petulant child declaring “well, if you think I’m a misogynist, I’ll show you what misogyny really is.”

I am not afraid to say that I was provoked. The cruelty on display, the apparent enjoyment of setting the murders in scene, Jack’s narcisstic rambling (that wants to be a lot deeper and more insightful than it is) – I hated all of it. I really couldn’t stand it, and after an hour I decided that I really don’t want to spend my time with shit like this. Maybe other people can find the artistic value in it. I found only hatred. Mostly, but not exclusively of women.

The film’s saving grace, in the sense that it was the part that made me stick with it as long as I did, was Bruno Ganz’ character Verge. His replies to Jack often call him out and provide a welcome counterweight to the self-absorbed “Jack Show” that we are getting otherwise. (I gather from reviews that he doesn’t remain that critical of Jack, though, and joins into his misogyny at least once, but I didn’t get to that point myself.) But this is not enough to counter the rest of the film.

I am very happy with my decision to quit the film about half-way through. I don’t need this in my life, and I’m pretty sure it will be my last attempt to watch a von Trier movie.

Summarizing: drenched in misogyny and general hate.