10 Most Controversial Opening Movie Scenes

1. Antichrist

In a way, just about all of Lars Von Trier's films could have stood a chance at being included on this list, but none quite have a button-pushing opening scene like Antichrist. The extended sequence, set entirely to a classical score and shot in black-and-white and slow-motion, depicts Willem Defoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg's characters having full-on, unsimulated sex, while their baby climbs up to a window in the opposite room and falls to his death.

The interplay between sex and death has been present throughout all of Von Trier's movies, but for many this was a step too far. The graphic sex itself would have made the scene controversial anyway, yet it was the fact that this was intercut with a baby's on-screen demise that was so shocking.

Still, the opening certainly set a precedent for the rest of the movie, and somehow ended up only being the 3rd or so most shocking moment in a film absolutely filled to the brim with controversial scenes.