Antichrist
The latest offering from maverick director Lars Von Trier, Antichrist was the most controversial film at the 2009 Cannes Festival.
The film documents - with disturbing detail - the breakdown of a relationship. He (Willem Dafoe) is a Congnitive Behavioural Therapist, while She (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is apparently tortured by guilt over the death of their young son.
In an attempt to 'cure' his wife, He takes her to a secluded cabin in the forest. Their ensuing ordeal of mental and physical torture culminates in an act of mutilation almost too horrific to describe.
Informed by the director's own experience with depression and his searching for answers via drugs, therapy or religion, this is a dark and harrowing voyage into the darkest recesses of the unconscious.
Dafoe and Gainsbourg's performances have been described as 'heroic', and the film's beautiful cinematography and wealth of symbolism ensure that Antichrist is the stuff of dreams as well as nightmares.
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg
Antichrist is released 24th July