#454/#1168c: TRIER, Lars von: Europa (1991)

TRIER, Lars von (Denmark)
Europa [1991]
Spine #454/#1168c
DVD


"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, 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 postwar Frankfurt. With its gorgeous black-and-white and color imagery and meticulously re-created (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.

107 minutes
Black & White/Color
Stereo
in English and German
2:35:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2008/2023
Director/Writers


Screenplay by Lars von Trier and Niels Vørsel.
vonTrier was 35 when he directed Europa.


The Film

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Sixteen-page booklet featuring an essay by critic Howard Hampton.

Commentary

Danish audio commentary with director von Trier and producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen.

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 as well as footage from Europa’s set and its Cannes premiere and press conference.

Anecdotes from “Europa” (2005)

A short documentary featuring interviews with film historian Peter Schepelern, actor Barr, Jensen, assistant director Tómas Gislason, co-writer Vørsel, and prop master Peter Grant.

Interviews

From 2005 with DP Henning Bendtsen, composer Joachim Holbek, costume designer Manon Rasmussen, film scholar teacher Mogens Rukov, Gislason, Jensen, Grant, Simpson, production manager Per Årman, and actor Ernst.

Conversation

With von Trier in which he discusses the “Europa Trilogy.”

“Europa” — The Faecal Location (2005)

A short film by Gislason.

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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