He said he grew up thinking he was a Jew, and he was very happy to be a Jew. Then he discovered he was a Nazi, and that also gave him some pleasure. "Yes, I am a Nazi!", he declared.

While his cast (Charlotte Gainsbourg, Udo Kier and John Hurt) looked on in horror, Kirsten Dunst tapped him on the shoulder and whispered to him to moderate his comments. He looked at her in confusion and said, "But this has a point, it will be okay."

Then he proceeded to dig himself in deeper, saying that he understood Hitler, and that he could sympathize with his being down in that bunker toward the end. He continued, "Well that doesn't mean I have anything against Jews, except Susanne Bier (Danish filmmaker, "In a Better World").

"Well, Israel is a pain in the ass ...

"Okay, I am a Nazi...

"Nazis tend to do things on a grander scale...

"Perhaps we can have a Final Solution for journalists...."

With that moderator Henri Behar called a halt to the conference because it was clear at that point that Von Trier just could not stop himself.

It is widely known that Von Trier suffers from bouts of depression, and "Melancholia" obviously reflected his state of mind. Ironically, before the declaration about Hitler and Nazism, Von Trier looked happier and more relaxed than he had at any of his previous press conferences at Cannes. He announced that he has broken through his depression and he has stopped drinking.

It was not known whether he was joking when he made pronouncements about next film, which he says is going to be a porn film where he also explores the conflict between the Eastern and the Western church, and being transformed by the Light. The light can be explained as the Cinema or the Holy Ghost, he said.

His previous films include the widely acclaimed, "Breaking the Waves" and the controversial, "Antichrist."

At the press conference on Monday for Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life," the prevailing thought was that Malick should have shown up to discuss his film. Today, people were saying that perhaps Von Trier should have stayed away.

 

 

 
Chaz Ebert is at Cannes and filing video reports, and will enlist some of our friends as experts in these pieces. Having attended festivals with me for 20 years she is an expert herself. Teaming with her is Scott Dummler, the director of special segments for our TV show "Ebert Presents at the Movies." Also see the blog entries written here on my site by Barbara Scharres, programmer at the Siskel Film Center. (I'm taking this year off from Cannes because I'm in the final countdown for my memoirs, which will be published Sept. 8.) RE