When you think of Lars Von Trier movies, misery probably arises in the very essence of your being. As brilliant, bold and brave as his films tend to be, they aren’t exactly rainbows and puppies. He’s made a career out of polarizing audiences and critics alike with an oeuvre of unapologetic happiness vacuums, but if you can appreciate cinema that challenges, provokes and isn’t afraid to hold back, then there aren’t many filmmakers out there as compelling as this great Dane. With his next feature, he appears to be entering even darker territory, and it doesn’t sound pretty.
As reported per Variety, the film is called ‘The House That Jack Built’ and it follows the exploits of a serial in Washington:
Set in Washington, The House That Jack Built revolves around a serial killer. The story is told from his perspective and takes place over ten to twelve years.
According to Variety, it was initially proposed as a TV series. However, the director opted to direct it as a feature instead (to the dismay of the Prozac industry no doubt, who’d rake in prescriptions if this was a weekly thing).
The film is set to be produced by Zentropa. According to producer Louise Vesth promises it to be a serial killer film unlike any other. Going by Von Trier’s track record, who couldn’t question that statement?
“It will be a serial killer movie like you’ve never seen before.” Vesth stated. “He wants to be able to change it between periods of shooting because when we’ll have done the body of the film in the Fall, he will then go edit it and he sees how he can combine the murders.”
Vesth went on to explain that the film will have a similar structure to his erotic melodrama Nymphomaniac: “He calls it the five incidents, which is the murder cases and then he has a lot of digressions in between to connect the story, in a similar way as in ‘Nymphomaniac.’”
Call us gluttons for punishment, but a Von Trier film is always exciting news. Expect this one to be an uncompromising endurance test.
Filming reportedly gets underway later this year.
. url=”.” . width=”100%” height=”150″ iframe=”true” /]
Originally published May 17, 2016. Updated April 14, 2018.
