Lars von Trier

OK, so there's this story about Lars von Trier that I really feel I have to tell, right now. So my friend used to live in L.A and dated this movie critic, who will remain nameless because I don't know his name. At any rate, he was interviewing Lars von Trier and asked him about his views on women, framing the question by explaining that some critics have interpreted works like 'Dancer in the Dark,' in which he basically takes an innocent female character and destroys her in this long, drawn out, painful way, as being on some level misogynist. Lars von Trier commenced to tell this story:

He was out in a boat on a lake, it was a beautiful day and everything was peaceful and generally pleasant. At some point he noticed a swan on the lake. His boat drifted close to the swan, and he was sitting perfectly still observing this beautiful animal when the swan started freaking out and attacking him, making this horrible noise and trying to overturn the boat. He didn't know what to do, was trying to beat it off with a paddle, when all of a sudden the swan stopped attacking him and started preening its feathers as if nothing had ever happened. "And that" he says "is what I think of women."

Apparently this interview was committed to video, I'll try and get some info on its availability. Hope I did it justice. Makes me feel sort of warm and fuzzy inside, and is a good reminder that "good artist" does not mean "good person".