80, 454, 1168 Lars von Trier's Europe Trilogy

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Martha
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80, 454, 1168 Lars von Trier's Europe Trilogy

#1 Post by Martha » Sat Feb 12, 2005 8:39 pm

Lars von Trier's Europe Trilogy

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With his dazzling first three features, Lars von Trier sought nothing less than to map the soul of Europe—its troubled past, anxious present, and uncertain future. Linked by a fascination with hypnotic states and the mesmeric possibilities of cinema, the films that make up the Europe Trilogy—The Element of Crime, Epidemic, and Europa—filter the continent's turbulent history, guilt, and traumas through the Danish provocateur's audacious deconstructions of genres including film noir, melodrama, horror, and science fiction. Above all, they are bravura showcases for von Trier's hallucinatory visuals, with each shot a tour de force of technical invention and dark imagination.

The Element of Crime

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Lars von Trier's stunning debut feature is a grungily expressionistic hallucination—a trancelike trawl through fractured memories, a murder mystery, and the psychic limbo of cultural displacement. From his exile in Cairo, a former police investigator (Michael Elphick) undergoes hypnosis in order to relive his memories of Europe and his last case, for which he went to dangerous lengths to enter into the mind of and catch a serial killer targeting children. Bathed in a sulfurous yellow glow pierced only by startling flashes of electric blue and red, The Element of Crime combines hard-boiled noir, dystopian science fiction, and dazzling operatic flourishes to yield a celluloid nightmare of terrifying beauty.

Epidemic

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A jet-black comedy of contagion, a subversive medical-horror freak-out, and a sly metacinematic prank, Lars von Trier's sophomore feature—born from a bet that he couldn't make a film for less than $150,000—finds the director channeling his singular thematic obsessions into an evocatively lo-fi, perversely self-reflexive provocation. The filmmaker himself stars as a harried screenwriter whose efforts to complete a script about the outbreak of a deadly disease coincide with a grisly real-life plague. A twisted reflection on Europe's haunted past—from the Black Death to World War II—and its scarred present, Epidemic is von Trier at his most idiosyncratic and audaciously experimental.

Europa

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"You will now listen to my voice... On the count of ten you will be in Europa." This ominous, hypnotic induction by Max von Sydow inaugurates the entrancing final installment of Lars von Trier's Europe Trilogy. An idealistic American (Jean-Marc Barr) travels to postwar Germany to take a job as a sleeping-car conductor for the Zentropa railways—and finds himself plunged into a murky, Kafkaesque world of intrigue and betrayal where the shadow of Nazism hovers menacingly over everything. With its ravishing cinematography (in black and white, color, and at times a stunning mix of both), dreamlike use of rear projections, and lush fusion of melodrama and noir conventions, Europa is a sublimely stylized cinematic fugue.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• 4K digital restoration of Europa, with uncompressed stereo soundtrack, and 3K digital restorations of The Element of Crime and Epidemic, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
• Audio commentaries featuring director Lars von Trier and others
Tranceformer: A Portrait of Lars von Trier (1997), a documentary by Stig Björkman
• Interview from 2005 with von Trier about the Europe Trilogy
• Making-of documentaries for all three films
• Programs on the films featuring interviews with many of von Trier's collaborators
• Two short student films by von Trier: Nocturne (1980) and Images of Liberation (1982)
• Danish television interview with von Trier from 1994
• Trailers
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: An essay by critic Howard Hampton

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Matt
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Re: 80 The Element of Crime

#2 Post by Matt » Sun Aug 07, 2005 9:09 pm

Martha wrote:
Sat Feb 12, 2005 8:39 pm
The Element of Crime

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Lars von Trier's stunning debut film is the story of Fisher, an exiled ex-cop who returns to his old beat to catch a serial killer with a taste for young girls. Influenced equally by Hitchcock and science fiction, von Trier (Zentropa, Breaking the Waves, The Idiots) boldly reinvents expressionist style for his own cinematic vision of a post-apocalyptic world. Shot in shades of sepia, with occasional, startling flashes of bright blue, The Element of Crime (Forbrydelsens Element) combines dark mystery and operatic sweep to yield a pure celluloid nightmare.

Special Features

• New widescreen digital transfer, enhanced for 16x9 televisions
• Stig Björkman's critically acclaimed 52-minute documentary Tranceformer: A Portrait of Lars von Trier (1997), with optional English subtitles
• Trailer
• In English, with optional subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
• Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition

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Vincent Canby's original review from the New York Times:
'THE ELEMENT OF CRIME,'' opening today at the Metro 2, is a film noir that's murky without being terribly mysterious.

The English-language Danish film is set in a Europe where the sun never shines at some near-future time when the Continent has become a giant wasteland of photogenic junkyards, trash heaps and mud puddles. Fisher (Michael Elphick), a retired police inspector, is called back from Cairo to solve a series of murders of young girls.

In his pursuit of truth, he seeks the help of his old mentor, Osbourne (Esmond Knight), who once wrote a book titled ''The Element of Crime.'' This supposedly seminal study of antisocial behavior puts forth the idea that, to track down a criminal, one must assume the criminal's point of view. Like his mentor before him, Fisher assumes the criminal's point of view only too well.

''The Element of Crime'' is the first feature to be directed by Lars von Trier, who has clearly looked at many other people's films, including Orson Welles's ''Touch of Evil'' and Sir Carol Reed's ''Third Man,'' though without learning much about dialogue or narrative.

Fisher wanders through the movie's watery, surrealistic landscapes like a man asleep, which he is (he's telling his story under hypnosis), painstakingly uncovering clues the size of billboards. As he approaches the awful truth, his soundtrack narration seriously deteriorates. ''I couldn't stay in Halberstadt,'' he says toward the end. ''It's always 3 o'clock in the morning. Do you know what I mean?'' We do. We do. The film's only claim for attention is the unusual camerawork by Tom Elling, who's photographed it in what initially appears to be a golden sepia. However, every now and then isolated objects will register in bold primary colors against the monochromatic backgrounds. The effect is interesting without being especially pertinent.

analoguezombie

Re: 80 The Element of Crime

#3 Post by analoguezombie » Mon Jan 16, 2006 4:15 pm

I found this to be one of the most haunting films I've ever seen. It stuck with me for quite a while and the dream-like, sepia toned world is mesmerizing.

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Re: 80 The Element of Crime

#4 Post by colinr0380 » Sun Aug 06, 2006 7:38 pm

I watched the Tartan Video boxset of this a couple of months ago (which was a port of the Electric Parc Danish set) and I found that the extra features on the Element of Crime disc really helped me to enjoy this film. I can't remember exactly Narshty's previous post on the film which described it's golden brown sepia look as being covered with excrement, but I found his reaction to the film to be rather similar to mine the first time I watched it. I was really impressed by the visuals, but found the plot wilfully obtuse and so preoccupied with the image that it made the characters do stupid things in a bizarrely constructed world.

That was my first viewing when I really wasn't sure how to watch the film, I tried again a couple more times trying to figure out whether I should concentrate on trying to follow the plot, which gave me a headache; or whether I should just let the visuals and slow, measured pacing flow over me, whereupon I usually fell asleep!

I knew it wasn't really too important to be able to follow every twist and turn of the plot as it seems to me most of Von Trier's films seem to use the plot as it progresses from moment to moment as a way of confusing an audience. The more intricate it gets the more the viewer concentrates to figure out whats going on, when in a strange way the viewer needs to draw back and distance themselves to see the wood rather than the trees! I think this is the theme that goes through most of Von Trier's work in that in plots such as Dancer In The Dark, Dogville, The Idiots etc you get caught up in the currency of the events. Each time the women in Dogville or Breaking the Waves demean themselves you are struck by the immediacy of that particular event. Dancer in the Dark and The Idiots have protagonists dealing with the moment rather than think of the future or their long term prospects, people in The Kingdom get caught up in mini-quests or pointless diversions. Or rather the diversions are not pointless since they are the film. They are the incidents that provide the drama or comedy in the situation. Dogville could last three hours or longer or shorter because it is an accumulation of incidents, the same with Breaking the Waves - it is a judging of how the audience reacts to these incidents, whether the tension builds as they see each humiliation of Grace until they're put in the uncomfortable position of being ready to cheer when she turns on the town.

Von Trier's films all seem to use this psychological attack on the audience, testing their boundaries, whether they're willing to see more indignities, go through another diversion (I think The Kingdom was a great inheritor of Twin Peak's mantle in that regard, a self concious TV series in that it acknowledged the way televsion never answers any questions, except with more questions designed to keep you tuning in next week), or follow a slow paced film to its bitter end. This seems to be the constant in his work, however else his style has changed (even The Five Obstructions is a test to see how far Jorgen Leth can be pushed, and what he does in response), and it's probably why some get really upset at his work and even Von Trier himself- perhaps like Michael Haneke he can come under the 'life's too short' or ' teaching obvious lessons' banner when critics are faced with another of his films. I think that's an understandable response, but I can't really think of any other films that are like Von Trier's (even among those who follow his 'style') and I think that is probably the best commendation there is.

Anyway back to The Element of Crime. I wasn't sure how to appreciate the film when I first saw it, even the beautifully composed visuals became tiring on the eyes after half an hour or so, and since I wasn't sure how to take it I gave up on it. I think I probably gave it more of a chance than most casual viewers since I watched it through twice. Unfortunately I think this was a film that needed a lot of explanation, which the Tranceformer documentary, while a very good overview of Von Trier's career, did not do.

My suspicions that this was a film that needed discussion were confirmed when I got the Tartan boxset, especially with the commentary by Stig Bjorkman and Peter Schepelern. I would really recommend anyone to rewatch Element of Crime with this commentary, even if they hated the film when they previously saw it.

The commentary really increased my knowledge about the film, the reasons why certain shots were created the way they were, as well as relating the film to the Europe trilogy in particular, but also the rest of Von Trier's work.

The commentators also don't shy away from discussing why the film doesn't really work - unlikeable, sketchy characters and that with literally every shot composed and managed to within an inch of its life how that can get exhausting for the viewer. I agree with that - the film looks great in small doses but over 100 minutes can just turn into looking like it has been smeared in excrement (to quote Narshty!)

However while the film itself is not enjoyable over a sustained period, the commentators are. I never realised that Esmond Knight, who plays Osborne, was blind at the time the film was made, had fooled everyone at his audition, and had to be led around the shadowy sets in order to hit his precise marks! It will also be interesting when I get A Canterbury Tale to see Esmond Knight when he was younger!

I loved the discussion that begins when Me Me Lai's character appears. It triggers a discussion of how feminists have been unhappy about Von Trier's portrayal of women both in this and the later films, and ends with this very entertaining dissection of the character:
"But all she has to offer is the classic comfort for the hero, the warrior's rest."

"And at the same time she is bordering on being a traitor. Even though it seems to be his insanity it's still the idea of the woman as a potential treacherous threat"

"But who isn't a traitor in this film? You can't really trust anyone."

"But she's the only one who's going to be fucked back into the stone age."
There is a lot of discussion in the commentary about how the film, as well as having shots influenced by Tarkovsky, is also influenced by Welles. Mr Arkadin is mentioned as having particularly strong connections, and it is this long discussion as well as Esmond Knight being in Canterbury Tale, which led me to decide to post on this film at this moment in time.

The commentary was also worthwhile in pointing out the small glass horse head on which mistaken identity rests, which I had completely missed on previous viewings. That did a lot to clarify the major twist for me!

The other reason I thought I'd post on the Element of Crime is that the commentators mention that a couple of films came out that tried to follow the style of the film - "Mornten Arnfed's adaptation of Kristen Thorup's novel "Heaven and Hell"...an attempt to bring some of the visual ideas into the Danish mainstream. The other film was "The Man In The Moon" by Erik Clausen whose universe is very far from Von Trier's. He is a comedian and it was a film about a man released from prison who comes out to a strange and incomprehensible world."

I was wondering if anyone had any information on these films and what they thought of them. I imdb'd Heaven and Hell and was interested to see Harriet Andersson was in it.

My thoughts on this film have changed since watching the commentaries on the Tartan disc. I was irritated with the film in that I couldn't find a way to understand it properly. The commentary (as well as the Von Trier commentary where even he is bored by it!) allowed me to let go of searching for comprehensibility in every moment. Some things happen just because they look good, but the commentary points out some allusions to art or literature as well as keeping the pace of their conversation up so you don't notice the long slow passages! It really is the best way to see the film and while it doesn't make it possible to for the film to be able to stand up on its own without explanation (therefore making it a failure I guess), the commentary makes viewing it much more entertaining.

I think the lack of any extra material on the Criterion disc really harmed my initial understanding of what Element of Crime had to offer and I wouldn't have gone out of my way to get the Tartan edition of the film if I hadn't wanted Europa and the documentaries on the fourth disc of the boxset. There are some films which stand up on their own and don't need any explanation, which can be released bare bones or with a documentary about the director rather than the film itself. Unfortunately this film wasn't one of them. It's great to have what will probably be the only Von Trier film in the collection, but I worry that the lack of explication could have turned people off to his work altogether.
Last edited by colinr0380 on Sun Aug 13, 2006 8:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: 80 The Element of Crime

#5 Post by LeeB.Sims » Mon Aug 07, 2006 7:49 pm

I'm grateful to you for this post Colin. This film has been one of the most confounding culprits in my collection, and while I've never regretted buying it blindly, I've struggled with a feeling of sensory overload that almost hinders my enjoyment. Thus far I've gotten by on dismissing the film's challenges and incomprehensibility as the effect of peering at something unknown through the groggy cobwebs of a fleeting dream. You know the feeling, when you're not really sure who you are or what your doing long after you've gotten out of bed and started the shower to get ready for work. This offers a new perspective, but I still feel like the film's surreal quality and pervasive mood can stand as a cinematic work unto itself. I'd love to hear any more valuable tid bits from the Tartan commentary as they may occur to you because, frankly, I won't be buying that set anytime soon. I'm poor.

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454 Europa

#6 Post by eez28 » Mon Oct 29, 2007 2:23 pm

Europa

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"You will now listen to my voice . . . On the count of ten you will be in Europa . . ." So begins Max von Sydow's opening narration to Lars von Trier’s hypnotic Europa (known in the U.S. as Zentropa), a fever dream in which American pacifist Leopold Kessler (Jean-Marc Barr) stumbles into a job as a sleeping-car conductor for the Zentropa railways in a Kafkaesque 1945 postwar Frankfurt. With its gorgeous black-and-white and color imagery and meticulously recreated (if then nightmarishly deconstructed) costumes and sets, Europa is one of the great Danish filmmaker’s weirdest and most wonderful works, a runaway train ride to an oddly futuristic past.

Special Features

- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Audio commentary featuring director Lars von Trier and producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen (in Danish, with English subtitles)
- The Making of “Europa” (1991), a documentary following the film from storyboarding to production
- Trier’s Element (1991), a documentary featuring an interview with von Trier, and footage from the set and Europa’s Cannes premiere and press conference
- Anecdotes from Europa (2005), a short documentary featuring interviews with film historian Peter Schepelern, actor Jean-Marc Barr, producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen, assistant director Tómas Gislason, co-writer Niels Vørsel, and prop master Peter Grant
- 2005 interviews with cinematographer Henning Bendtsen, composer Joachim Holbek, costume designer Manon Rasmussen, film-school teacher Mogens Rukov, editor/director Tómas Gislason, producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen, art director Peter Grant, actor Michael Simpson, production manager Per Arman, actor Ole Ernst
- A conversation with Lars von Trier from 2005, in which the director speaks about the "Europa" trilogy
- Europa—The Faecal Location (2005), a short film by Gislason
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Howard Hampton

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Re: 454 Europa

#7 Post by domino harvey » Mon Oct 29, 2007 2:34 pm

The film won three awards at the Cannes Film Festival (Best Artistic Contribution, Jury Prize, and Technical Grand Prize). Upon realizing that he had not won the Palme d'Or, von Trier gave the judges the finger and stormed out of the venue.
Gotta love it

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Re: 454 Europa

#8 Post by denti alligator » Mon Oct 29, 2007 2:40 pm

domino harvey wrote:
The film won three awards at the Cannes Film Festival (Best Artistic Contribution, Jury Prize, and Technical Grand Prize). Upon realizing that he had not won the Palme d'Or, von Trier gave the judges the finger and stormed out of the venue.
Gotta love it
I loathe the man. And just as I was warming to the idea of trying to purchase every Criterion.

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Re: 454 Europa

#9 Post by Tribe » Mon Oct 29, 2007 3:06 pm

denti alligator wrote:I loathe the man. And just as I was warming to the idea of trying to purchase every Criterion.
I can't disagree with you, Denti...Von Trier is a shit. But, damn....he makes great films. I wonder if a box is somehow in the works for the E Trilogy inasmuch as Epidemic is available in a fine edition from HVE/Image.

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Re: 454 Europa

#10 Post by denti alligator » Mon Oct 29, 2007 3:28 pm

Tribe wrote:
denti alligator wrote:I loathe the man. And just as I was warming to the idea of trying to purchase every Criterion.
I can't disagree with you, Denti...Von Trier is a shit. But, damn....he makes great films..
Never seen one that was great, though I've only seen Dancer in the Dark and Breaking the Waves. The former was unbearable; the latter had some merits, but c'est tout.

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Re: 454 Europa

#11 Post by justeleblanc » Mon Oct 29, 2007 4:14 pm

Quite wonderful news. I've been waiting for this film for such a long time now I'd written it off as a film Miramax will sit on forever. Could this mean Belle de Jour may finally become a Criterion property?

If you don't like Lars von Trier, it's worth checking out The Idiots or The Five Obstructions if you haven't already before coming to a final decision. Both are short.

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Re: 454 Europa

#12 Post by Tribe » Mon Oct 29, 2007 4:20 pm

justeleblanc wrote: If you don't like Lars von Trier, it's worth checking out The Idiots or The Five Obstructions if you haven't already before coming to a final decision. Both are short.
As much as I like The Idiots, if someone doesn't care for Von Trier's films after watching Dancer In the Dark and Breaking the Waves, I doubt watching Obrstuctions and Idiots is gonna change anyone's mind.

Zentropa (or Europa) is probably Von Trier's most accessible film in terms of plot and visuals. The story is fairly straight forward while the look of this movie is spectacular. It's one of my favorites of his.

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Re: 454 Europa

#13 Post by Cinephrenic » Mon Oct 29, 2007 4:23 pm

I had a hard time getting through The Element of Crime, a film I appriciate, but was just simply bored.

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Re: 454 Europa

#14 Post by Matt » Mon Oct 29, 2007 4:47 pm

It's worth noting for those not familiar with his work that von Trier's films up to Zentropa are completely different in style from the films from Breaking the Waves onward. They could almost be the work of a different filmmaker entirely.

Me, I think Zentropa looks fantastic, but I don't think I'd have the patience to sit through it again if I was paid to.

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Re: 454 Europa

#15 Post by pianocrash » Mon Oct 29, 2007 5:01 pm

Cinephrenic wrote:I had a hard time getting through The Element of Crime, a film I appriciate, but was just simply bored.
Zentropa is far easier on the eyes, since it's based in noir-type tendencies, as is the subject matter (well, not that easy). It's more akin to his Dogville-era trilogy, as far as I'm concerned. All of the film's formal elegance may be trumped by its ideology (as in most Von Trier), but I have happier memories with Zentropa than, say, most of his other work.

Give it a chance, everybody! Jean-Marc Barr deserves that, at least.

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Re: 454 Europa

#16 Post by justeleblanc » Mon Oct 29, 2007 5:28 pm

Bordwell made this comparison at one point that von Trier is the opposite of Bela Tarr stylewise, where Tarr began his career in a more verite type manner and has transitioned into a more stylized aesthetic. Whereas von Trier began very stylized and has since become more Dogme-verite like (though the U.S.A. trilogy may be breaking that rule a bit).

Zentropa is right at the end of his stylized period, but it's by far the best film of the E trilogy and Element of Crime and Epidemic shouldn't deter one from giving this a shot. In fact, this one may help you appreciate the other two a bit more, never a bad thing.

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Re: 454 Europa

#17 Post by zedz » Mon Oct 29, 2007 5:35 pm

Matt wrote:Me, I think Zentropa looks fantastic, but I don't think I'd have the patience to sit through it again if I was paid to.
Same here, a classic example of "nice filmmaking, shame about the film." I can't imagine what Criterion could pull out of the hat to trump the European "E Trilogy" release of the film, and I picked up the entire box for less than the price of an upper-tier Criterion, so this isn't a release for which I can work up much enthusiasm.

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Re: 454 Europa

#18 Post by miless » Mon Oct 29, 2007 6:14 pm

The only Von Trier film that I can say I enjoyed was The Boss of it All, a funny little film with some of the most bizarre camera work I've ever seen (probably due to it being controlled by a computer). It was funny, and the whole film didn't stink of Von Trier's ignorant accusations.

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Re: 454 Europa

#19 Post by FilmFanSea » Mon Oct 29, 2007 7:05 pm

Sign me up as one who has no patience for von Trier's arrogant, sadistic, manipulative, misogynistic morality plays. Just the memory of viewing Breaking the Waves makes me wanna punch somebody (preferably Lars). Ditto Dancer in the Dark.

That said, I really enjoy Riget I/II, so I'll probably give a CC Zentropa at least a rental.
Last edited by FilmFanSea on Tue Oct 30, 2007 1:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: 454 Europa

#20 Post by kaujot » Mon Oct 29, 2007 8:57 pm

I've never seen Dancer in the Dark, but misogynistic is the last adjective I'd attach to Breaking the Waves.

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Re: 454 Europa

#21 Post by Tribe » Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:56 pm

kaujot wrote:I've never seen Dancer in the Dark, but misogynistic is the last adjective I'd attach to Breaking the Waves.
Well, I'm a big admirer of Von Trier's work in Breaking the Waves, but even a fan can find that film misogynistic. Sure, it's sublime...but its also so ugly in parts. Of course, that's part of what makes it such a special movie.

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Re: 454 Europa

#22 Post by kaujot » Mon Oct 29, 2007 11:38 pm

Tribe wrote:
kaujot wrote:I've never seen Dancer in the Dark, but misogynistic is the last adjective I'd attach to Breaking the Waves.
Well, I'm a big admirer of Von Trier's work in Breaking the Waves, but even a fan can find that film misogynistic.
Now, admittedly, I've only seen it once, but never, even during the ugliest bits of the film, did I think anything like "Boy, von Trier sure hates this girl." That's how I see a misogynistic film. That is, where the a director's contempt for women is displayed openly in the film, rather than having characters who genuinely ARE misogynistic (the Hostel films, Chaos, etc.)

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Re: 454 Europa

#23 Post by ievenlostmycat » Tue Oct 30, 2007 3:08 am

excellent news

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Re: 454 Europa

#24 Post by skuhn8 » Tue Oct 30, 2007 5:25 am

Tribe wrote:Well, I'm a big admirer of Von Trier's work in Breaking the Waves, but even a fan can find that film misogynistic.
Can you elaborate on which parts are misogynistic? I've seen the film a couple of times now and didn't notice anything that was less than sympathetic to the female characters except for the mother who is a useless bitch due to religious fanaticism rather than gender.

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Re: 454 Europa

#25 Post by colinr0380 » Tue Oct 30, 2007 10:54 am

Interesting development, although I'm going to refuse to call the film anything other than Europa! Since the end credits song praises "Europa" in a new world order, neo-facist style it seems appropriate to call the film that - unless the song and Max Von Sydow's references to it were changed?

I'm afraid I can't remember what the story behind the title change to Zentropa was - was it an official alternate title or just used in the US?

I'm glad to see another Von Trier film in the collection, even if I'm not certain what Criterion could do other than just port over the Europa portion of the Electric Parc "E" set (maybe including Von Trier's student short Images of a Relief which was an easter egg in the trilogy box - even better would be some of his other unavailable student films). Perhaps they could do a video interview with Udo Kier and Jean-Marc Barr instead of using their disappointing commentary from the Danish set? It also seems like a good release to go into the critical reaction and maybe get statements from directors or actors who were impressed by the film.

I found the film itself to be very impressive with the continual movements of characters from a filmed back projection to acting in front of it in the same scene but perhaps because it was this was the earliest Von Trier film I saw that I have ended up preferring the other two films more - The Element of Crime with the enlightening critics commentary and Epidemic for its pre-Dogme faux reality handheld style versus the images from the film within the film that are composed and managed to within an inch of their lives! (Or perhaps it was more Dogme than Dogme since the main characters in the drama are actually setting up the camera and the shots themselves!)

Setting the film in a post-world war two environment strangely seemed to make the shifts from black and white to colour and the interactions between the back projections and the characters in front of them seem more jarring than they were in the vaguely defined worlds of Element of Crime and the film in Epidemic. Perhaps I was left with a feeling that this kind of flashy stylisation was inappropriate in a way to the subject matter.

However it could also be argued that the Second World War has been covered from so many different perspectives from very literal to the most inaccurate and so a take on that era filtered though Von Trier's sensibilities would have been more acceptable than using another, not so universal, period.

I wonder if Steven Soderbergh has seen it and, if so, what he thought of it. I doubt this particular film had much influence on The Good German, but you never know!

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