It’s hard to have a lot of sympathy for the man, but Danish director Lars Von Trier‘s had a rough go of things over the last few years. While Cannes organizers reportedly battle behind the scenes whether to include his latest film, the psychological horror-thriller “The House That Jack Built,” into the festival – he faced a lifetime ban in 2011 for trolling comments about Nazis—the filmmaker seems to still be in recovery. A few years back he revealed he was sober, but detailed some crippling addictions, and psychological disorders like deep depression and anxiety. At the time, post-“Nyphomaniac” the director suggested he may never direct a film again. Since then, he’s feuded with fellow Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn, and shot his latest film, “The House That Jack Built.” Much worse, which complicates the Cannes decision no doubt, not only was he accused of sexual harassment by his “Dancer In The Dark” star Bjork, his production company Company Zentropa was accused of “systematic degradation and sexual harassment.”
READ MORE: Lars Von Trier’s Latest Film Is The Source Of Much Debate Behind The Scenes At Cannes
In a recent interview with Danish publication Soundvenue, the director revealed he fell off the wagon during the making of “The House That Jack Built.” “I felt terrible during the shooting of this film,” Trier said. “And it’s no one’s fault – it’s my own fault, I was just full of anxieties and alcohol and so on. So this is why I can’t really face making a film, at least not immediately.”
Von Trier said his poor mental health led him to devise of something simpler to follow up ‘Jack’ and a project that would make him feel “good.”
“I’ve thought out a little plan to make some very modest, small films of a duration of 10 minutes each, which are called ‘Études,’ where you try something new – narratively, technically or in terms of characters,” he explained. “I plan to make a series of 10 small films in black and white, and I was thinking to work with Nordic actors, as there are just so many good ones.”
“The idea of the ‘Études’ is designed to make me feel good,” the 61-year-old continued. “Because then I give 90 percent more than when I’m wrong. I would like to quote Henning Bahs, who said, ‘I feel better when I’m doing well.’ And it was typically something that was said at lunch at other snaps, as it was on Nordisk Film’s drinking in violent amounts, which I greatly appreciated. Now I’m in all possible associations where I’m trying to get completely drowsy, but it’s hard.”
Von Trier even brings up the dreaded N-word again. The google translation is possibly janky, but it goes like, “It is very important that Hitler be humanized because [what] he has done can happen again.” Presumably, what’s being said here is let’s never forget what Hitler did. Either way, it appears that the director has learned his lesson when it comes to speaking in favor of Nazis.
There’s no word or details on what the “Études” shorts will be about, but presumably, they’re somehow inspired by Frédéric Chopin’s musical composition of the same name.