I grew up in a culturally radical home, where strong emotions were forbidden.

S. — Press Conference for Melancholia Cannes 2011

Referring to the art of Nazi architect Albert Speer von Trier added:.

As he himself said in an interview "basically I'm afraid of everything in life except filmmaking. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective – an avant-garde filmmaking movement – although his own films have taken a variety of approaches. Von Trier suffers periodically from depression as well as various fears and phobias including an intense fear of flying.