Losing Control: Lars von Trier and the Production of Authenticity and the Auteur

Abstract

This thesis examines Lars von Trier?s latest three films, The Five Obstructions (2003), The Boss of It All (2006), and Antichrist (2009), and posits that a principal thread running through his oeuvre is the motif of losing control. He explores the idea of relinquishing control at varying levels in the films: from liberating the subject matter, to liberating the camera, to liberating the director from the creative process.

I posit two broad arguments: first, the paradoxical act of losing control through establishing obstructions, as manifested through von Trier?s practice, is a conduit through which authenticity in the cinematic experience is wrought. The second argument suggests that the conceit of surrendering aesthetic control is simultaneously his effort at manifesting his selfhood and identity as an auteur. Through the process of deconstructing the agency of the auteur, von Trier is simultaneously constructing and asserting the persona that is Lars von Trier. The self-reflexive construction of his persona signifies the authenticity which he often seeks to express, and thus, it is a curious exploration of how one becomes an `authentic? auteur, where the dynamic between control and play might be characterised as the muse and inspiration that drives his art.