No reaction to the expulsion of Danish film director Lars von Trier from the Cannes Film Festival, after making anti-Semitic remarks on stage, indicates growing public acceptance of his views.
Speaking at a gala press conference on May 18th as a candidate for best film, a somber von Trier made a number of comments, including “ I understand Hitler”, “and I sympathize with him a little bit, yes”.
He then stated “I am of course very much for Jews – no, not too much, because Israel is a pain in the ass”, smiling to appreciative laughter from the audience, and later adding bemusedly “We Nazis, we have a tendency to try to do things on a greater scale.”
The directors of the Cannes Film Festival on the next day announced that von Trier’s remarks were unacceptable and intolerable, and declared Lars von Trier persona non grata at the Festival de Cannes.
Of special note to us is the reaction to these events, which was mostly no reaction at all.
Mainstream media reports about the incident glossed over von Trier’s utterances, avoided following up by asking on his views directly, and instead focused on the question of whether his expulsion would also exclude his film from the running for the festival prizes – it will not. The only proviso is that if his film wins the festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or award, he will not be allowed to collect it on stage in person.
A rare indie media reporter that did question von Trier about the incident asked him: “Do you think that you hit a nerve in France, given its history of anti-Semitism and collaboration…?”, to which von Trier readily agreed, so indicating that the organizers were over-reacting and making the director a scapegoat.
Von Trier himself told journalists "I am proud to have been declared 'persona non grata'", and refused to apologize for his comments, saying that apologies are for Americans, and tried to deflect criticism by making the strange statement that organizers had demanded he refute Nazi architect Albert Speer’s artistic ability following his press conference.
Amazingly, Von Trier’s “Albert Speer is an artist” defense seemed to make headway, with numerous comments on press website upholding his right to free speech and to artistic integrity.
Von Trier naturally also used the “Israel Card”, suggesting that he was being denied his right to criticize the Jewish State, a dubious claim given the very open anti-Israel sentiment at the event. Nonetheless, this claim also raised public sympathy, with commentators upholding the Dane’s bravery and von Trier himself basking in his self-claimed ‘rebelliousness’.
Reaction in Denmark was also muted.
The Associated Press reported that Henrik Bo Nielsen, director of the Danish Film Institute, said von Trier’s comments would not affect sdecisions to fund his future films. “It is unfortunate that great cinema should drown in such farce and controversy totally irrelevant to the film itself,” Nielsen said. “But there’s nothing new in the fact that great artists make stupid and repugnant remarks.”
Fellow Dane film maker Nicolas Wending Refn, who also has a film at Cannes, said he was repulsed by what von Trier said, a statement to which von Trier responded on interview: “Fuck him”.
