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Lars von Trier banned from Cannes after Nazi comments
By James Brady RyanMay 19th, 2011, 9:03 amComments (21)
Oh, Lars. Do you see where completely inappropriate jokes that aren't even funny to begin with get you? That's right: they get you booted from the most prestigious film festival in the world. (Maybe it's because France has kind of an awkward history with Nazis? Just guessing.) Because even though von Trier apologized for his "I'm a Nazi, I understand where Hitler was coming from," comments, the Cannes Film Festival has decided that he is no longer welcome. Possibly forever:
The board of directors profoundly regrets that this forum has been used by Lars von Trier to express comments that are unacceptable, intolerable, and contrary to the ideals of humanity and generosity that preside over the very existence of the festival. The Board of Directors firmly condemns these comments and declares Lars von Trier a persona non grata at the Festival de Cannes, with effect immediately.
Shiiiiiiiiit. I didn't think people even used the term "persona non grata" in its original sense anymore. I know some people will see this as overkill, especially since it was pretty obvious that von Trier was doing his usual "look at me, I'm being so naughty" shtick, but... come on. The dude said "I am a Nazi," and while he's totally free to say it, or be it, there are repercussions to that kind of statement, especially when said in a country that only came out from under Nazi control sixty-seven years ago. And like I said, it wasn't funny — it was just awkward. Plus, I'm sure he'll be welcomed back soon enough, because he's an auteur and those guys seem to get passes on a lot of things.
Besides: it's not really transgressing unless you get some blowback, right, Lars?
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Lars von Trier
Commentarium (21 Comments)
The man's plan got him banned from Cannes but invited to the Klan.
I guess I will Nazi his movies ever again.
I'll give it to you - that was very well done.
Oh yeah, this is champion for sure.
Nice.
that was semi-cringe worthy, but i'm glad it happened
Bravo. Ouch, but bravo.
so Cannes bans a fool for something he said but deifies Roman Polanski????
Which is exactly why I think he'll be welcomed back with open arms.
The key here from my POV is: Polanski successfully being on the run was the living embodiment of giving the USA the middle finger, so why wouldn't that appeal to French sensibilities? They weren't embracing Polanski in a personal sense, they were embracing what his sheer free physical presence embodied. Lars convoluted meanderings could in no way be viewed as giving a middle finger to the memory of the Nazis, quite the opposite. Why would the French continue to embrace someone who could even begun to be thought of as embodying such?
In short, I see no incongruence in their attitudes towards each director, and I wouldn't expect their attitude towards Lars to change.
I agree.
I think it is kind of an over reaction, personally, but then I don' t really care either and am not really about to defend Lars.
You do realize Von Trier himself comes from a country that was under Nazi rule 67 years ago, right?
Which excuses nothing, but still. It's a deep hole of a bad joke he can't dig himself out of, but the selective outrage of the festival is indeed interesting.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13457328
Unfortunate there is no medal of idiocy handed out at Canne but he really should get it . This gaff is largely down to his own use or miss use of the English language. What the whole thing make your own mind up.
watchthe whole thing... not what the whole thing.
Poor Lars. Shoulda just raped someone instead - then the European intellectual community would have immediately rushed to your defense instead of condemning you!
if he had just praised Che Guevara or one of the other left wing nice people like Stalin or Mao or even Pol Pot who's only fault is he did'nt hide his mass murders like the other three did...............
Sad. Pooh on you Cannes.
I'm honestly not even sure the dude was joking. I mean, first of all, who makes jokes about Hitler and the Nazis? As the first sentence of this article astutely points out, such jokes are obviously not funny. And it wasn't just a lame one-liner. He kept going and going. Kind of like his films. Seriously, the dude slaughtered a donkey on the set of one of his films--which so offensive that John C. Reilly walked off the set and quit the film.
Lars has always been a mediocre filmmaker that has profited from making movies that are outrageous and downright ridiculous (and usually involve some sort of rape scenes). The "murder" sequence in Dancer in the Dark was laughably absurd, as was the subsequent trial scenes, where America (slash evil capitalism) executes an innocent (and sand and blind) communism.
And the whole Dogme 95 thing is beyond stale--it's just plain boring. Let's make a movie where the houses are drawn in chalk on the ground! Enter Dogville. Oh yeah, and let's make America this time a rapist.
Lars von sure does love to hate him some America. The sad thing is the Mr. von Trier has never even been to this country. Dude is a fraud, pure and simple.
von Trier showed his bad taste and a dark side of him most of of did'nt know until now, and as a private function in a country that suffered greatly under Nazi rule it is easy to understand and acceptable that they banned him. What disturbs me the most though is how many Cannes Film Festivals have there been people wandering around with Che Guevara and Mao shirts on with nary a whimper of dissent ?? We now know von Trier's underlying flaw are people as aware of the CFF's underlying hypocrisy ??
Overblown. Completely. Lars has some personal demons about his own heritage. He thought he was a Jew most of his life and he probably suffered discrimination because of it. Then he found out he wasn't and probably had some bitterness about his experience so this is how it came out. He was at a press conference, which is a high pressure situation when you're not an eccentric introvert, which Lars is, so he put his foot in his mouth. His statement was awkward and in trying to gloss them over by sort of making a bad joke about it he put his foot further in his mouth. But that's his schtick. He makes a living pushing people's buttons and drawing unnerving emotion out of his audiences. That doesn't make him a monster. In this case it just means that he screwed up and showed some bad judgment. People just need to get over themselves a little bit and realize that we all say stupid things sometimes. It just means we're human.
Now you say something