Lars von Trier

"I don't trust his motives, I don't trust his morals, I don't trust his ethics, I don't trust his attitude to women - I just don't trust him." - Mark Kermode, BBC Radio 5live

Oh Lars.

When The Idiots was shown in Cannes, Dr K became so outraged he started screaming in French at the screen and was escorted from the cinema by guards.

Paul Bettany came on Wittertainment to talk about Dogville, and asked Mark what he thought of von Trier. Mark replied that he found him "a strange mix of impressive and really infuriating." Bettany agreed with that assessment. Later, Mark would add that Bettany had a great von Trier story - on the first day of making Dogville, Lars picked Bettany up at the airport, was driving him and said, "I've got to stop." They stopped at a service station and von Trier bought a huge armful of adult magazines. He said, "do you want any porn?" Bettany declined. Von Trier then drove to Bettany's hotel room where he dumped the magazines, before summoning Bettany's co-star Nicole Kindling to the room, where he bellowed, "oh Nicole, have you seen Paul's collection of porn?"

Mark has since had a love-hate relationship to von Trier, often liking his work, but sometimes the director goes bananas prompting Mark to go "Oh Lars, for heaven sakes!". He considers him a trickster, and someone whose words are never to be trusted. Mark hates Idioterne and Breaking The Waves (despite its key role in his relationship with the Good Lady Professor Her Indoors), but likes Antichrist and Melancholia. His opinion on Nymphomaniac is unknown since he was on holiday when the film premiered.