Antichrist

In their Seattle apartment, the unnamed couple have sex while their infant Nic is unsupervised. Nic climbs toward the bedroom window and falls to his death. The tragedy unfolds rapidly, leaving the parents stunned and beginning a long, painful grief.

At Nic's funeral, the mother collapses under the weight of her grief. The moment marks a rupture in the ceremony and signals the depth of her sorrow. This event foreshadows the strain on their relationship and the coming months of mourning.

The mother spends the next month in the hospital, crippled by atypical grief. Her condition tests the family and casts doubt on conventional care. The father watches, increasingly skeptical of standard psychiatry and searching for alternatives.

The father, a therapist, questions the value of external psychiatric care and decides to treat his wife himself. He begins psychotherapy as a way to help her cope with the loss. Their relationship becomes more intimate but also more fragile.

As part of the healing process, they hike to Eden, a remote cabin in the woods, so she can confront her fear of nature. The trip doubles as a test of their bond and the viability of his unorthodox approach. Eden also ties to her past writings and ideas.

During the hike, a deer shows no fear of him and bears a stillborn fawn hanging halfway out of her. The eerie encounter foreshadows the increasingly ominous mood of the environment. It marks nature as a malevolent force within the couple's struggle.

In ongoing psychotherapy, the woman becomes increasingly grief-stricken and manic, often demanding forceful sex. The surroundings grow more sinister as acorns pelt the roof, ticks attach to a hand, and a red fox emits a warning about chaos. The therapy sessions blur the line between healing and horror.

The man discovers the woman's thesis studies in the attic, including violent depictions of witch hunts and a frantic scrapbook. She reveals that she has come to believe all women are inherently evil. The revelation deepens the rift between them and intensifies the fear around her motives.

The man reprimands her for her worldview, and in a frenzy, they have violent sex at the base of an ominous dead tree entwined with exposed roots. He begins to suspect that Satan is her greatest hidden fear. The scene blends confrontation with ritualistic symbolism.

After viewing Nic's autopsy photos, the man realizes she had been systematically putting Nic's shoes on the wrong feet, resulting in a foot deformity. The revelation shifts his perception of her care for Nic and the severity of her influence. It also intensifies the tension between them.

She attacks him in the shed, accuses him of planning to leave, and initiates sex again before smashing a heavy block of wood onto his erect penis, knocking him unconscious. She then masturbates him until he ejaculates blood, and drills a hole through his leg to bolt a grindstone in place. The wrench is tossed under the cabin, beginning the cycle of pain and confinement.

The man awakens with a leg wound, drags himself into a deep foxhole at the base of the dead tree, and hides as a crow signals his burial. The woman locates him and attacks, leaving him partially buried and fighting to survive. Night deepens as danger closes in.

Night falls as the woman digs the man up and helps him back to the cabin, unable to recall where the wrench is. She tells him that only The Three Beggars can end his life and recounts Nic's death, confessing her own perceived evil. The confession marks a turning point in their dynamic.

In the cabin, she cuts off her clitoris, and the crow, deer, and fox—The Three Beggars—appear amid a hailstorm. The man finds the wrench under the floorboards and frees himself by unbolting the grindstone. He then strangles her and builds a pyre to cremate her body.

The man limps away from the burning cabin and eats wild berries as the Three Beggars watch, now translucent and glowing. A procession of hundreds of women in antiquated dress appears on a hill, their faces blurred, and they pass by as they walk deeper into the forest. The final image leaves the fate of the protagonist and the mystery of the forest unresolved.