Director Trier shocks Cannes with Nazi, Hitler jokes

CANNES, France (Reuters) – Danish director Lars Von Trier jokingly declared himself a Nazi at a press conference at the Cannes film festival on Wednesday, causing consternation among the assembled reporters and offense among Jewish groups.

The maverick film maker is at the cinema showcase with competition entry "Melancholia," a grand cinematic statement on life, death and the universe which wowed a packed audience at a press screening in the giant Grand Theater Lumiere.

But his provocative comments, which appeared to have been made in jest, threatened to overshadow the triumph some journalists and critics felt his movie to be and may harm his chances of winning the Palme d'Or in Cannes for best picture.

"You can't award him a Palme d'Or, politically," said Jason Solomons, chairman of the Film Critics' Circle in London, who is in Cannes for the May 11-22 festival.

"People might say it should go to the art and not the artist, but these days I don't think that's true or right," he told Reuters after hearing Von Trier's remarks.

The Hollywood Reporter remarked that the 55-year-old had "pulled a Mel Gibson," in reference to the latter's anti-Semitic slurs in 2006 that badly harmed his reputation.

The American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants said in a statement: "Holocaust survivors condemn Von Trier's repulsive comments as an insensitive exploitation of victims' suffering for self-serving promotion and publicity.

"We cannot give a review of his film, but as a person Von Trier is a moral failure."

Flanked at the news conference by his two leading stars Charlotte Gainsbourg and Kirsten Dunst, Von Trier made several references to making a long porn film featuring the actresses.

"I UNDERSTAND HITLER"

As the conference drew to a close, the director, who won the Palme d'Or in 2000 with "Dancer in the Dark," was asked to expand on comments he made in a recent interview regarding his interest in the Nazi aesthetic.

"I thought I was a Jew for a long time and was very happy being a Jew," said Von Trier, who, according to biographies was told by his mother on her death bed that the father he had known all his life was not his real father.

"Then later on came (Jewish and Danish director) Susanne Bier and then suddenly I wasn't so happy about being a Jew. No, that was a joke, sorry.

"But it turned out I was not a Jew but even if I'd been a Jew I would be kind of a second rate Jew because there is kind of a hierarchy in the Jewish population.

"But anyway, I really wanted to be a Jew and then I found out I was really a Nazi, you know, because my family was German ... which also gave me some pleasure."

Dunst looked uncomfortable as he continued his remarks, which clearly took reporters by surprise.

"What can I say? I understand Hitler. I think he did some wrong things, yes absolutely, but I can see him sitting in his bunker in the end.

"I think I understand the man. He's not what you would call a good guy, but I understand much about him and I sympathize with him a little bit. But come on, I'm not for the Second World War, and I'm not against Jews.

"I am of course very much for Jews. No, not too much because Israel is a pain in the ass. But still, how can I get out of this sentence?"

He expressed admiration for Nazi architect Albert Speer before ending another rambling sentence with: "OK, I'm a Nazi."

One reporter asked whether he could imagine making a movie that was even bigger in scale than "Melancholia."

"Yeah, that's what we Nazis ... we have a tendency to try to do things on a greater scale. Yeah, may be you could persuade me." He also muttered "the final solution with journalists."

As the press conference broke up, Dunst, who was no longer smiling, could be heard saying: "Oh Lars, that was intense."

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Lars Von Trier Announces "I'm a Nazi," Jokes About Hitler, Jews, Final Solution

 Jean Baptiste Lacroix/FilmMagic 

Update: At the behest of Cannes officials, the director was asked to provide an explanation for his statements, and issued the following comment via the festival's website.

"The director states that he let himself be egged on by a provocation. He presents his apology."

____

Controversy-monger and maker of occasionally watchable films Lars von Trier shifted into shock-jock mode today during the Cannes press conference? for his film, Melancholia.

Really kicking it up a notch, the experimental filmmaker responded to a question about the "Nazi aesthetic" with some gems. "I understand Hitler. I think he did some wrong things, yes, absolutely," said the director. "I sympathize with him a little bit."

Yeah, these are what he considers jokes, people. Read on for more hilarity.

RELATED: The latest from Cannes

About 35 minutes into the press conference, the director's standup routine kicked into gear after a question about comments he'd once made about the Nazi aesthetic.

"I thought I was a Jew for a long time. I was very happy being a Jew. Then later on came Susanne Bier [Oscar winning Jewish, Danish director] and then suddenly I wasn't so happy being a Jew. Uh no, that was a joke. Sorry," he said, later adding. "I really wanted to be a Jew and then I found out I was really a Nazi, because my family was German. Which also gave me some pleasure.

"What can I say? I understand Hitler. I think he did some wrong things, yes, absolutely," he said. "He's not what you'd call a good guy, but I understand much about him and I sympathize with him a little bit."

At one point, it appears that a visibly uncomfortable Kirsten Dunst touches Von Trier to perhaps get him to stop talking. Nice try.

The director wanted to be clear on a few points. "But come on, I'm not for the Second World War. And I'm not against the Jews," he said. "I am of course very much for Jews. No, not too much, because the Israeli's are a pain in the ass, but still...How can I get out of this sentence?"?

Then he finds his way out: "OK. I'm a Nazi."

Earlier in the press conference, Von Trier had also joked that his next project was a three-to-four hour "porn film" featuring his Melacholia stars Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg, who shared the press conference stage with him. He even insisted that there would be "lots of uncomfortable sex," thereby upping the ante on offensive content.

But back to his "A" material, the Nazi stuff. When asked if he'd like to get away from doing his small, art house films, he replied, "Yeah, we Nazis have a tendency to try to do things on a greater scale. Yeah, maybe you could persuade me [to do] The Final Solution—with journalists."

Despite his attempt to craft killer material out of the work of genocidal killers, not everybody's laughing. Abraham A. Foxman, spokesman for the Anti-Defamation League, tells The Hollywood Reporter that von Trier "seems to be struggling with some personal ghosts. This is one way I guess he resolved them, in a very, very bizarre way....It was a diatribe with a crescendo that got worse."

"I'm struggling," Foxman says. "I don't know where one begins. Asking for an apology? Where do you start?"

True, where would you start? It's always funny until somebody—or six million somebodys—gets murdered.

PHOTOS: Cannes 2011: Star Sightings!

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Von Trier banned from Cannes

CANNES, France - Despite declaring bombastic Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier "a persona non grata" at Cannes 2011 for his stupid pro-Nazi jokes, the Cannes Film Festival put itself in a bureaucratic bind Thursday by leaving Melancholia in the running for awards, including the Palme d?Or as best film that von Trier covets so much.

That means Melancholia, von Trier?s end-of-the-world opus, could win an award from Robert De Niro?s official Cannes jury on Sunday but von Trier would not be allowed to accept it in person. This is according to Cannes sources. The official Cannes press release which banned von Trier ? in effect, if not in words ? made no mention of the status of his film in the awards race. Nor was there any indication that von Trier would continue to be what Cannes called ?a persona non grata? at future Cannes filmfests.

The festival?s Board of Directors issued its statement of condemnation because of von Trier?s public comments that included an aside about Adolf Hitler that ?I sympathize a bit with him.?

The statement said: ?The Festival de Cannes provides artists from around the world with an exceptional forum to present their works and defend freedom of expression and creation. The Festival?s Board of Directors, which held an extraordinary meeting this Thursday, 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.?

The tempest started Wednesday when the bombastic Dane ? who often says outrageous things, some of which are in jest ? declared ?I?m a Nazi!? during a long, rambling rant at the official press conference for Melancholia. Von Trier at first praised Jews, then condemned Israel as ?a pain in the ass.?He praised the work of Nazi architect Albert Speer, insulted his own Jewish colleague and business partner Susanne Bier, and offered his opinions on Hitler.

?What can I say?? von Trier declared. ?I understand Hitler. But I think he did some wrong things, absolutely. But I can see him sitting in his bunker at the end. I?m just saying I think I understood the man. He?s not what you would call a good guy but I understood much about him and I sympathize a bit with him.

?But I?m not for the Second World War and I?m not against Jews, no, not even Susanne Bier. I am of course very much for Jews. No, not too much because Israel is a pain in the ass. But still, how can I get out of this sentence? I?m very much for Speer. Albert Speer I like. He was also maybe one of God?s best children but he had some talent ... Okay, I?m a Nazi!?

Hours later, von Trier was doing damage control, obviously under pressure from Cannes officials. He blamed his rant on being ?egged on,? which is a bald-faced lie. The original question asked only for comment about the fact that von Trier recently discovered that his family has German roots. Von Trier also issued a statement Wednesday saying: ?I am not anti-semitic or racially prejudiced in any way, nor am I a Nazi.?

He is, however, an idiot for believing that jokes about Nazis have any place in Cannes ? or anywhere else, for that matter. But the weirdness of making von Trier ?a persona non grata? without any context has left media in Cannes feeling perplexed and conflicted.

Some think his jokes are just part of the usual von Trier publicity machine. Some think that declaring him ?a persona non grata? means the festival itself is stifling free speech. Los Angeles-based film journalist Jeffrey Wells has already tried to get a protest petition going to support von Trier (but not his Nazi jokes). Other critics have pointed out that Cannes has ?banning? von Trier but happily accepted Mel Gibson on the red carpet for Jodie Foster?s screening of The Beaver, in which Gibson co-stars. Gibson is known for an infamous, aloholic-fueled, anti-semitic tirade in California. So there seems to be a double standard.

The scandal roils and boils. And many critics believe that Melancholia really should be in the running for the Palme d?Or, along with Terrence Malick?s The Tree of Life, the Dardenne Brothers? The Kid With a Bike, Aki Kaurismaki?s Le Havre and Michel Hazanavicius? The Artist.

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Lars von Trier Explains Nazi Comments

NEW YORK – His jokes about being a Nazi got Lars von Trier expelled from the Cannes film festival. But the Melancholia director tells Richard Porton why he is “very happy” about being deemed persona non grata.

Upon arriving Thursday for one of many roundtables arranged for journalists to grill Lars von Trier, the Danish director of the Cannes film festival competition entry Melancholia, reporters were informed that von Trier regrets what his publicist termed a “Lenny Bruce–style routine that bombed.” Von Trier, who realizes he’s “been a bad boy,” had just been declared persona non grata by the Cannes brass for comments made during Wednesday’s Melancholia press conference, in which he joked about “sympathizing with Hitler” and feeling empathetic with Jews until he met the Danish-Jewish director Susanne Bier (the most recent winner of the best foreign film Oscar for In a Better World). Refusing to see much humor in von Trier’s ramblings, the festival condemned him for observations deemed “unacceptable, intolerable, and contrary to the ideals of humanity.”

Gallery: Celebrity Nazi Scandals

Of course, journalists with knowledge of von Trier’s penchant for making outrageous public statements did little more than roll their eyes. (A Danish reporter told The Daily Beast that “Lars says this sort of thing when he’s nervous.”) In 2005, he remarked that George W. Bush had sadomasochistic fantasies about being whipped by Condoleezza Rice. In 2009, after the initial screening of his film Antichrist was greeted with cheers by the mercurial Danish director’s partisans and loud boos by much of the rest of the audience, he declared himself “the best film director in the world.” His on-set behavior has proven no less controversial over the years. The grueling shoot of Dancer in the Dark inspired its star, pop singer Bjork, to label him a woman-hating “soul robber.” Nicole Kidman, although more restrained in her remarks concerning her unpredictable Dogville director, quickly canceled plans to continue working with von Trier after the film’s tempestuous Cannes reception—a scene featuring Kidman chained to a wheel brought forth accusations of misogyny from many of the thousands of journalists on hand for the premiere.

Despite being effectively banned from Cannes (it’s uncertain whether the persona non grata status is temporary or for all time), von Trier was amiable and, amazingly enough, seemingly relaxed as he met with the press at the elegant Hotel Le Mas Candille to discuss the fallout from the controversy.? Sensing that his remarks amounted to a public-relations disaster and an inadvertent effort to sabotage his film’s chances for the festival’s highest honor, the Palme d’Or, he retained an impish grin as he voiced his regret over the brouhaha he created. “It was stupid and the wrong place to be sarcastic,” von Trier admitted. “Of course, I don’t sympathize with Hitler. And, as we all know, the Holocaust was the cruelest and most barbaric crime against humanity of the last century … My only excuse is that if I think a press conference is getting boring I start to perform.”?

When The Daily Beast asked him to clarify his attack on Susanne Bier and the nature of their tension, he replied: “I went to film school with her, and she used to work for Zentropa, my production company, but quit. I’ve always thought, compared to me, that she was treated extremely well, which is fair enough, but has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that she’s Jewish. The reason that I make these Jewish jokes is that, for half my life, I thought I was Jewish. If you’re Jewish, you’re allowed to make Jewish jokes. So it’s hard to break that habit when you find out that you’re not really Jewish. All of my children have Jewish names. I’m sorry that people took it the wrong way. But I know why; I was stupid enough to talk to the world like I talk to my best friends.”

When asked about his new persona non grata status, von Trier said it was “irritating” and added that he was close friends “with Gilles [Jacob, Cannes’s president] and Thierry [Fremaux, Cannes’s artistic director].” But von Trier, who has always felt like an outsider, quipped that the category of persona non grata “fits me very well; I’m very happy about that.”

Assuming that von Trier now has as much chance of winning the Palme d’Or as Mel Gibson (of The Beaver) does of being a keynote speaker at a B’nai B’rith conference, what, you may ask, are the merits of Melancholia itself, and how could an art movie with a gratuitous sci-fi hook have prompted such a bizarre rhetorical detour? To begin with, it’s helpful to know that the controversy was initially generated by an interview in Film, the magazine of the Danish Film Institute, which featured von Trier proclaiming that he’s “always had a weakness for the Nazi aesthetic.” The ironic remark was intended to explain the generous snippets from Richard Wagner’s (Hitler’s favorite composer) Tristan und Isolde that dominate Melancholia’s sound track.

To put a benign gloss on remarks that much of the world—unfamiliar as it is with von Trier’s decidedly adolescent brand of humor—have already found extremely offensive, von Trier’s new film plunges into the thorny terrain of German romanticism. The apocalyptic avant-garde epic personifies the explosive union of beauty, eroticism, and destruction that characterizes the most feverish romanticism much like Wagner’s music conjoins love and death (i.e., the famous Wagnerian Liebestod). It is not giving anything away to inform prospective viewers that Melancholia ends with “Planet Melancholia” crashing into earth and killing the film’s protagonists and all of humanity. That, for von Trier, is a starting point for the audience. The film is not bound up with plot devices, but with the stylistic bag of tricks he brings to bear on this experimental version of the disaster movie.

Melancholia, like many of von Trier’s films, is a mixed bag. The plight of the terminally morose Justine (Kirsten Dunst) is stunningly conveyed through a series of images inspired by an array of classic paintings that open the film. But, as is often the case with von Trier, the script itself is weak and the primary narrative revolving around Justine’s doomed wedding and conflict with her sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is schematic and underdeveloped. One has the impression that if von Trier had his way, or lacked commercial instincts, he’d abandon narrative altogether and make completely abstract films.?

At Thursday’s roundtable, such aesthetic considerations were cast aside. Afterward, von Trier was being summoned for an interview with an Israeli broadcaster. It was difficult to predict whether his multilayered ironies would go down well in Tel Aviv.

Richard Porton is one of the editors of Cineaste magazine in New York and has written on film for Cinema Scope, In These Times, and Moving Image Source. His anthology, On Film Festivals (Wallflower Press), was published in 2009.

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Von Trier jokes at Cannes about Nazi roots

CANNES, France, May 18 (UPI) -- Controversial Danish director Lars von Trier joked about his family's Nazi roots at a Cannes film festival press conference promoting his film, "Melancholia."

Von Trier's film credits include "Breaking the Waves," "Dancer in the Dark," "Dogville" and "Manderlay." His latest movie stars Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

The Hollywood Reporter said the filmmaker, who is known for his dark humor, was asked about his Germanic roots at a Cannes news conference Wednesday and responded to the surprise of the journalists, Dunst and Gainsbourg: "For a long time I thought I was a Jew and I was happy to be a Jew, then I met [Danish and Jewish director] Susanne Bier and I wasn't so happy. But then I found out I was actually a Nazi. My family were German. And that also gave me some pleasure. What can I say? I understand Hitler … I sympathize with him a bit."

Von Trier went on to say: "I don't mean I'm in favor of World War II and I'm not against Jews, not even Susanne Bier. ... In fact, I'm very much in favor of them. All Jews. Well, Israel is a pain in the ass but …Now how can I get out of this sentence? OK. I'm a Nazi."

Queried later about whether he would like to make a film on a larger scale, he replied: "Yes. We Nazis like to do things on a big scale. Maybe I could do 'The Final Solution,' " The Hollywood Reporter said.

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