With the Truth or with Christ? Lars von Trier’s Dialogue with Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The article considers the central film cycles of the contemporary Danish director and scriptwriter Lars von Trier (Golden Heart Trilogy, USA, Depression Trilogy). The author argues that the Danish artist’s creative work is to a significant extent influenced by F. M. Dostoyevsky’s works. While his early Golden Heart Trilogy is rooted in the philosophical ideas of the Russian writer when depicting a Christ-like man, starting with the USA trilogy, von Trier denies the principles Dostoyevsky developed based on his faith in Christ. The author of the article examines the processes underlying the development of this worldview in the Danish director’s creative work and puts forward a hypothesis that in his latest works, von Trier recreates the type of consciousness that concerned the Russian writer and was primarily reflected in the image of Ivan Karamazov

Art · Art history · Faith · Fyodor · Literature · Theology · Trilogy · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Philosophy · Psychoanalysis and Social Critique · Violence, Religion, and Philosophy