Lars von Trier: persona non grata at Cannes

Lars von Trier, here at Canne sin 2000, has courted controversy at the festival many times in the past but this time it appears he has gone a step too far. Copyright: Rita Molnár, 2000

After an emergency meeting held by the Board of Directors, they released the following statement:

“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 19 May 2011, 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.”

Their incredible decision to ban the celebrated former Palm d’Or winner comes off the back of comments he made at the press conference for his competing title, Melancholia. In his response to a question from Kate Muir of The Times, regarding his interest in the Nazi aesthetic, he said: “What can I say? I understand Hitler. I mean I think he did some wrong things absolutely but I can see him sitting in his bunker at the end... I sympathise with him, yes, a little bit.” At this point his leading lady, Kirsten Dunst, leant over and with a nervous laugh tried to stop him saying more, but he continued, “I think I understand the man.” Clearly stuck, he tried to joke, “How can I get out of this? OK, I’m a Nazi!” but this was not before he'd called Israel “a pain in the ass” and stated his taste for the art of Albert Speer.

Post press conference and the journalists gathered at the event went to town: ‘Lars von Trier say’s he’s a Nazi’ read headlines across the world, somewhat simplifying the story. In the face of this assault the director released a statement:

"If I have hurt someone this morning by the words I said at the press conference, I sincerely apologize. I am not antisemitic or racially prejudiced in any way, nor am I a Nazi."

In one of his first interviews post the scandal, with the Los Angeles Times, the director gave a much more heartfelt apology and explanation: "I'm really sincere when I say I don't really know what hit me. I can understand if you take things out of context. This was very sarcastic and very rude, but that's very Danish. I'm very sorry that it's being taken the wrong way… I must say that I believe strongly that the Holocaust is the worst crime against humanity ever, and I do not sympathize with Hitler one second."

In the same interview the director, who is notorious among journalists for saying outrageous things most often in jest, said that he might never do another press conference again. Funnily enough, all the press interviews for Melancholia were cancelled yesterday afternoon, with illness cited as the reason. Yet the movie has not been removed from the competition so technically is still in the running for the Palm d’Or on Sunday. HM