The House That Jack Built

It plays better than it reviews — the watch lands harder than the write-ups suggest.

• “The film becomes an even broader consideration of individual fascinations and follies, of ways of responding to art without the boundaries of morality and reason.”

  Sam C. Mac, Slant Magazine · 100

• “The House That Jack Built is an audacious and divisive film, sure, but only because of the context surrounding the film. The gore! The violence! The subject material! Oh my! At its core, though, von Trier has actually assembled his most accessible work to date.”

  Michael Roffman, Consequence · 100

• “Some people, including a couple of people I watched the film with, may see The House That Jack Built as pretentious nonsense. Others will see it as the glorification of violence. I see it for what it was intended to be, a work of complicated, violent, hilarious art.”

  Lorry Kikta, Film Threat · 100

• “The House That Jack Built is an often-horrifying, sadistic dive into a psychotic internal monologue, with intellectual detours about the nature of art in the world today, and puts considerable effort into stimulating discomfort at key moments. If you meet the work on those terms, or at least accept the challenge of wrestling with impeccable filmmaking that dances across moral barriers, it’s also possibly brilliant.”

  Eric Kohn, IndieWire · 91

• “Whether there’s any worth to be found in The House That Jack Built will depend on the viewer’s interest in delving deep into von Trier’s tortured psyche. It’s unlikely anyone will empathize with him and it’s certain many will find the film execrable, but those willing to indulge his excess are offered a wealth of fascinating material.”

  Giovanni Marchini Camia, The Film Stage · 83