The term "antichrist" is commonly associated with being the exact opposite of Christ, but if one were to look at the Greek word that it is translated from they would see that it really means "opposed to Christ". This is a good starting point for the movie since the main character of film is not supernatural in any way, but instead just a normal man who loses the common moral values of normal people as the film's events take their course. Even though he embodies evil and lacks all good, this is more of a reflection of his nature and not a representation of who he is as a human being.
The film opens with a man and a woman making passionate love. The man, simply known as He, and the woman, simply known as She, experience this moment of pure good until their infant son in the next room crawls out of his crib and subsequently takes a dive out of an open window. This opening scene, entitled "Prologue", sets the stage for the next three chapters of the film: Grief, Pain, Despair (considerately named after the three stages of mourning). In an attempt to console She, He takes her out to their cabin (named Eden) where he counsels her in her anger, guilt, and despair.
After this event has occurred, we as an audience must assume that both He and She are at psychological breaking points. We are told that She has been spending her time researching witchcraft and has been wondering whether or not women are naturally evil. We are also told that He has been distant from She and their son, which begins to imply that He lacks emotion towards She and their son. I believe that the event of the death of their son inspires him to attempt to punish the woman responsible for the life of their son.
Grief is the first stage of mourning and in this film it is legitimate, except that they make a mistake. Their mistake lies in how they decide to try treat their grief instead of trying to accept it and move on with their lives. Naturally the two of them realize that all the blame for their son's untimely demise lies on their shoulders for having sex when they should have been paying attention him. They feel guilt, and by the strange logic the world of this film seems to follow, guilt demands punishment.. She decides to put herself through mental punishment. For He, the punishment is having to deal with her guilt, by lecturing her in a patient and calm manner that eventually becomes more inane and ultimately destructive overall.
All of this guilt and punishment eventually leads to Pain, the second chapter. This pain is inflicted onto He and She by themselves and each other. The pain that She endures from his attempts at counseling is eventually joined by the pain inflicted upon them by nature. The forest is not what it seems, instead it houses strange creatures, such as a fox and a crow, and are depicted in way that is most certainly not natural in any manner.
This film, and especially these parts, have been attacked and referred to as "torture porn". While this film definitely has a sadomasochistic quality and feel to it, it's a stretch to call it erotic. It's hard to imagine that any viewer would find what is on screen arousing in any manner. Trier can be commended for having made a film that is deliberately shocking since it is pretty much made to shake the audience. This film can be seen as a more of a study of fear than anything else. On a more personal level it addresses the fear in people that real evil does exist in the world, that other "common" people in the world have the ability to inflict limitless cruelty onto themselves and each other.
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