• Friday, October 23, 2009

• Country:

  USA

• Language:

  English

• Runtime:

  109 min

2009

A couple lose their young son when he falls out the window while they have sex in the other room. The mother's grief consigns her to hospital, but her therapist husband brings her home intent on treating her depression himself.

To confront her fears they go to stay at their remote cabin in the woods, "Eden", where something untold happened the previous summer. Told in four chapters with a prologue and epilogue, the film details acts of lustful cruelty as the man and woman unfold the darker side of nature outside and within.

Taglines

• When nature turns evil, true terror awaits.

Trivias

• Eva Green was considered for the leading lady but rejected because her contract was too complex.
• The story is divided into four chapters, "Grief", "Pain (Chaos Reigns)", "Despair (Gynocide)" and "The Three Beggars", in addition to a prologue and an epilogue, all displayed over abstract designs by Danish artist Per Kirkeby.
• A video game based on the movie has been announced by the movie's production company Zentropa. The game "Eden" would supposedly be a continuation of the story.
• This movie received a special anti-award from the ecumenical jury at Cannes. The jury, which typically awards a film that promotes spiritual and humanist values, decided to award this film an anti-award for its misogynistic views.
• A Danish newspaper has published an essay by writer Heidi Laura, an indictment against the female sex which was commissioned by Lars von Trier in 2007 as part of the research for the film. It references the stories of Eve and Pandora, quotes poetry with misogynistic content and cites the thinkers Aristotle, John Chrysostom, John Knox, Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche and Otto Weininger as well as the American feminist Camille Paglia.

Awards

1. Golden Palm
   Event: Cannes Film Festival
   Result: Nominated
   Category:
   Recipient(s): Lars von Trier
2. Best Actress
   Event: Cannes Film Festival
   Result: Won
   Category:
   Recipient(s): Charlotte Gainsbourg