art as curse

His films obsessively explore how artistic obsession destroys the creator's psyche, as seen in The Fountain, Black Swan, and The Wrestler.

He consistently portrays art and beauty as intertwined with suffering, despair, and female victimization across Antichrist, Melancholia, and Dogville.

His meditative cinema examines how artistic vision isolates the creator and questions whether beauty and truth demand self-annihilation.