“Gentlemen,” I cried suddenly, speaking straight from my heart, “look
around you at the gifts of God, the clear sky, the pure air, the tender
grass, the birds; nature is beautiful and sinless, and we, only we, are
sinful and foolish, and we don’t understand that life is heaven, for we
have only to understand that and it will at once be fulfilled in all its
beauty, we shall embrace each other and weep.”
-Fyodor Doestoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
“Hell is a state of mind - ye never said a truer word. And every state of
mind, left to itself, every shutting up of the creature within the dungeon
of its own mind - is, in the end, Hell. But Heaven is not a state of mind.
Heaven is reality itself. All that is fully real is Heavenly. For all that
can be shaken will be shaken and only the unshakeable remains.
-C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
Prologue: Reflections on a Title
This is the house that Jack built, y'all.
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
Anyone with a little bit of Sunday School or VBS education knows this story. The wise man built his house on the rock. The foolish man built his house on the sand. If you know the story in this context, you might also still remember the children’s song based on the story and the hand motions that go with it. It’s a great, memorable passage from the Gospels (found in Matthew and Luke) and it’s a great, memorable children’s song.
What the Sunday School kid might not realize is that this “house” imagery that Jesus uses is “built” upon over 2,000 uses of the word house in the Hebrew scriptures.
So, when Lars von Trier, a man obsessed with structure (and, related, obstructions), a self-professed atheist obsessed with religion, specifically the Christian religion (as evidenced repeatedly in his films and in what I’ve read of his personal life), a man most clearly indebted to Dreyer and Tarkovsky, when this man, von Trier, very deliberately echoes biblical “house” language in the title to his film, I can’t help but suspect that he is making a deeply religious film, working self-consciously in a tradition of religious film.
But let’s go further with the title.
“Unless YHWH builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.” -Psalm 127
Names have meaning.
There are two solid explanations for the name Jack. One is that it developed as a nickname for John, which means: “YHWH has been gracious” The other is that it developed from Jacques, Jake, Jacob, which means: “To follow at the heel or supplant.” The biblical Jacob also gets renamed as Israel, meaning something like: 'God Contended', 'Wrestles with God', 'Triumphant with God'.
Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
Either way, the name Jack has its origin in Hebrew. I don’t think this is a coincidence.
I know something else about the film, told to me by Brandon. The House That Jack Built is about a depraved serial killer played by Matt Dillon who (spoilers; yes, Brandon happily “spoiled” the film for me) finds himself escorted to hell by the angel Bruno Ganz. Whatever else I was thinking about the film, this alone confirmed my suspicions of von Trier’s theological intent. [for the record, Verge is Virgil of Aenied fame and not any sort of celestial being. I'm not sure if Brandon got this wrong or if I just misheard or misunderstood him.]
Here is a man, Jack, who builds his own house instead of receiving a house. Here is a man who builds on an unworthy foundation (himself and his own pleasures), who finds himself a Prince in a Kingdom of Sand, a man who has striven with God and with men, and has not prevailed, but maybe foolishly, temporarily, thinks that he has.
And reflecting on this title, I can’t help but think that this film has something to say about von Trier’s opinion on his own life and specifically on his film career. What sort of house has Lars built? Lars, laurel, the awarded one, the victor. What has he actually won for himself in the end?
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
Yes, I went to all of that name and bible stuff AND I’m also aware of the Caldecott book and various songs. There is a century plus of House That Jack Built traditions:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_That_Jack_Built
The higher you are
The farther you fall
The longer the walk
The farther you crawl
My body, my temple
This temple it tilts
Step into the house that Jack built
-Metallica
The film begins.
Allor si mosse, e io li tenni dietro. -Dante
Darkness. Water. Waves. Voiceover narration.
[Jack] May I ask you something?
[Verge] I can’t promise I’ll answer.
[Jack] (hesitating) R-Right. That’s exactly what I meant… Um, are you allowed to speak.. along the way? I was thinking there might be rules.
[Verge] Well, let me put it this way. Very few make it all the way without uttering a word. People are overcome with a strange and sudden need to confess on this trip, and not all of it can be said to be of great rhetorical quality, but do carry on merrily, just don’t believe that you’re going to tell me something that I haven’t heard before.
Title screen.
The House That Jack Built, those words stylized into looking like a house.
But do carry on merrily.
1st Incident: A Broken Jack
"So I'm standing here holding this jack. Crap's not working.”
Lars von Trier is already one step ahead of me. There are so many ways to approach this. All of them are beyond me.There is commentary on art and craft. There is commentary on what one is and what one is responding to external circumstances. There are always choices. There are only choices. What choice does Jack make? Why does he make this choice?
Then again, this 1st incident is also over-the-top in its ham-fisted obviousness. A broken jack?
Yes, that’s what we get. A broken Jack. A whole, functional jack is for the purpose of lifting up, for the purpose of repair. A whole, functional Jack would be a man who could lift others up through his art/work, who could repair the ruins of the world and point others to wholeness. A broken Jack can only use his art/work to smash others in the face. This is obviously a metaphor for von Trier the artist, the man who smashes us in the eyes with his films, who always want to make us uncomfortable, who lashes out and wants to hurt, himself and others.
And the entire 1st incident is framed as Uma just begging to be hit in the face, wanting it deeply, goading Jack on to become what he is to become, planting the seed of serial killing in his mind. This is told from Jack's point of view, a self-justifying story, a simplistic origin story in which he really has no choice. He tries to do the right thing. But the jack will not work properly despite attempts otherwise. Smashing Uma Thurman in the face is the natural use for a broken Jack.
Further thoughts:
Jack's art is an art for an audience of one. An art for God alone.
The difference between an engineer and an architect.
The walk-in freezer on Prospect Ave. Delaying judgment.
"A door to another room which I never managed to open."
2nd Incident: A Fumbling, Amazed Jack
The second incident happens deliberately under the cross. Jack sees a woman walking. He follows her. When he stops and sees her going into a house, he gets out of his car, walks to the house, and takes a good look. He does so next to a building that has a large cross hanging on it. My constant refrain? I don't think this is an accident.
The killing that he does is sloppy and botched, and yet the rain covers his tracks. Jack interprets this as a sort of divine sanction. “Getting away with it” becomes “this must be a good thing.”
Lars von Trier continues to make films. He totters and trembles. All along, at every step, he receives accolades. He is blessed in his career, as half-assed and fumbling as it is at the beginning.
There is nothing but encouragement for his initial offense and all of his subsequent offenses.
for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust
It’s at the end of this “incident” that we first hear Bowie’s “Fame”, which I do think is a signal to think of Jack as a von Trier stand-in. Jack has no obvious fame at this point besides his infamy before God and God alone. It is von Trier who has made fumbling early films who received accolades for them. Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but I don’t think so. I’m crazy enough to think that this film is von Trier giving us an autobiography of his success as a provocateur.
“Was there never a tiny grain of disappointment about the Great Rain that washed away your tracks so you couldn’t be caught?”
“More like amazement, when I think about all the things I’ve done in my life without in any way resulting in punishment.”
This “incident” goes long into several murders and reveals Jack’s new understanding of himself as “Mr. Sophistication.” - “I repent nothing.”
3rd Incident: The Concept of Family
Hunting
Art of love
Materials for a house
Dylan - Gould
Bowie
Addiction
Verge: "you want me to show you the way to the next Whiskey bar?"
Taxidermy - a fake controlled life
A completely credible human being - an act of love
I'm going to leave all of that "as is". Those were notes on the "incident", but I never wrote any more. I do think that this section is important. I don't know von Trier's efforts or attempts at any sort of family life, but the one young boy who is killed in this section is featured repeatedly through to the end.
4th Incident - I had a romance (or, the unfortunate rake)
Simple or Jacqueline
"You know I hate it when you call me Simple. My name is Jacqueline."
Feminine version of Jack.
An engineer reads music.
An architect
This section is my favorite of the film. Gross, I know.
But it's here that Jack most explicitly reckons with the hell around him and the hell inside himself. Jack's tirade against women ("why is it always the man's fault") signals clearly an abdication of responsibility, a failure to own his actions, a failure to "be a man", instead lashing out and blaming others. Jack is made to look pathetic and despicable in all of this.
At the same time, however (and this is not to excuse Jack), the more complex reality of a societal encouragement of this abdication of responsibility is examined.
Jack confesses. To Jacqueline. To the police officer. Yells it out to the entire neighborhood. No one listens. No one cares. No one helps. Because to help would be to call Jack to account, to make a moral judgment, to condemn Jack, yes, but also to, in turn, open oneself up to judgment, to expose one's own failures, to take responsibility for, to own, one's most grievous faults.
Mapping this onto von Trier's life is pretty straightforward, I think. I don't know about any of his relationships with women, but I'm ready to assume that they heave been horrible messes. I do know that von Trier flirted with being a serious Roman Catholic for a while. I see Jacqueline as a symbol of the Church. The focus in this section on confession, on forgiveness, and then explicitly on religion (in the dialogue between Jack and Verge) later makes me think so. Confession, at its best, is healing and restorative. Confession, at its worst, without repentance, is nothing more than a cycle of empty words. Jack confesses. No one takes him seriously. Lars confesses. The art world around him tells him that everything is okay, that there is not really anything wrong with him, that he is special the way he is and should not change. Lars confesses. The priest tells him that he's forgiven, but does not expect any change from him or provide any community that could possibly challenge him with a rigorous positive vision of shared struggle in love.
All of this "incident" happens after Verge asks if Jack wants to be shown to the next Whiskey bar at the end of Incident 3, a reference to Brecht (and yes, The Doors and probably even Bowie) and Brecht's radical exposure of the modern city as morally bankrupt in the Mahogany-Songspiel and elsewhere. Von Trier has been a Brechtian his entire career and that doesn't change here. I do wonder, though, if von Trier has begun to understand and own up to his own complicity in the societal breakdown around him. "I have been a horrible person to this woman" he confesses. He goes ahead and kills her anyway.
Von Trier has been open recently about his alcoholism.
“Addiction is in fact a kind of embodied cultural critique of modernity and the addict a kind of unwitting modern prophet. The church has a great stake in listening to such unwitting prophets. If the church will listen, it will be led to an examination of how its own culture contributes to the production of addiction, whether it offers an alternative culture and what such an alternative culture would require.”
-Kent Dunnington, Addiction and Virtue: Beyond the Models of Disease and Choice
Verge: without love, there is no art.
If decomposition is a way to salvation, then what about your house?
Digression on art and good and evil - the noble rot.
Von Trier is exposing himself and in a way, rejecting much of his own previous work as insufficient if not completely evil. Placing images from his own films into the context of Jack's depraved aesthetic is a bold move and, I think, a fundamentally honest one. In the context of the film, given Verge's commentary and Jack's ultimate end, von Trier is reckoning with the fact that he has been lying to himself about the "beauty" and the worth of his own career.
Noble Rot. I can't think of a better way to describe von Trier's career.
5th Incident - full metal jacket
Jack's house is an entrance to hell.
I'll return to my meditations on names and scripture that started this post.
According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
More house imagery? Yep. It's all over the place. And here, in Paul's letter to the Corinthians, we get an explicit image of a house (and just trust me that the temple is a type of house). A house made of what? A house made of human beings. That's what the Church is. I quoted the KJV above because the "ye" better translates the Greek, which in contemporary English would be better translated as "all y'all" to reflect that it's second person plural.
Von Trier has already made a film titled Antichrist, but that's what is also happening here. Jack, as an idolater obsessed with himself, is trying to build his own house and this house can only be a parody of God's House.
Jack's House is a grotesque approximation of a living house made out of human beings. Jack's attempts to be god are shown for what they are. Idolatry. Sick. Lifeless.
As a commentary on von Trier's previous films? This strikes me as a sound judgment.
Epilogue: Katabasis
Return to the prologue.
Somber organ music playing.
Hell.
-----
I wrote all of the above in bits and pieces over a couple of weeks, and it's already been a couple of weeks since that time.
I'm now a bit too far removed from the film to properly finish this. I watched it twice. I'm tempted to watch it a third time, and I still might, but I need to post this.
As for the final moments of the film, I do think that it is evidence of von Trier's Danish Protestant roots showing through, and I do think that von Trier sees himself as Jack in this moment, stubbornly attempting to go his own way around and recognizing that it won't work.
Despite what von Trier says in interviews, his art speaks for itself. In this film, von Trier recognizes the futility (and even the grotesquery) of all that he has achieved so far. He recognizes that he has been scaling the cliffs of hell. And he recognizes that if he continues on, he will fall, that he cannot possibly escape through his own efforts.
For all of his talk in interviews of being an atheist, I don't see it.
Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
I can't watch a film and not make it personal. It's why I'm so offended and disgusted by so many corporate products, why I've finally stopped going to see superhero films.
I watched this film because Brandon recommended it to me. I'll watch anything that Brandon recommends to me because I love Brandon.
I watched this film because, however unlikely it seems, I love Lars von Trier. He has no idea who I am and that's okay. I love him and I want what is best for him. I've long understood that he is looking for an honest culture and community, but is a perfectionist and unwilling to submit to lesser, imperfect communities, which are the only kind that exist.
As a product of late 20th century popular culture, formed by it, but reacting against it, I am sympathetic to the Noble Rot, having participated in it personally.
I understand.
I understand and I have participated in the Noble Rot. I'll pick the Noble Rot over the General Rot any day, but it's not enough.
I'll end this post with a prayer:
"Lord, Lars believes. Help thou his unbelief!"
-----
Postscript:
This Aretha Franklin song doesn't have much to do with the film, but it's a fierce song that I love, so here it is closing out the post.
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