Lars von Trier is a filmmaker for whom each day probably feels like another installment in a long, slow slog toward the end of the world.
Therefore, his recent 65th birthday on April 30 might not feel like something to celebrate.
But for better and oftentimes for much, much worse, the most dour Dane of all time has served up a catalogue of extraordinary, shocking, and bracing films spanning more than half his life.The controversy-courting filmmaker is shameless about his signature abrasiveness, and it tends to plop him into an uneasy camp: from walking himself straight into becoming “persona non grata” at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival with his comments about understanding Hitler, to Björk swearing off acting following a grueling experience making “Dancer in the Dark.” He may be another in a long line of toxic male directors, but his body of work has produced some of the best performances ever put to film.
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