Europa / Zentropa (In the states)***

Directed and written by Lars Von Trier.
With Barbara Sukowa, Jean-Marc Barr, Udo Kier and Max Von Sydow.
Released 1991.
Seen on DVD.

This is a difficult film. I'll start with a summary. An idealistic young man, played by Barr, from New York decides to come to Germany after the war had just ended to help out in the post war reconstruction. He gets a job as a sleeping car conductor. He meets a German girl (Sukowa) who is daughter of the train company and they fall in love. Meanwhile there is resistance againts the American occupation and these resisters are called Werewolves. It seems that everyone wants something from the young man. The Americans want him to"keep his eyes open" about Nazi resistance. The werewolves want him to do terrorist work for them. The werewolves force him to do a job and the movie becomes a bit of a thriller.

The director's previous films were very arty but clearly also very visually dynamic. I could see that from some of the extras that came on the DVD. He says that this movie is more accessible, (though it's still clearly an art house film). It is because he uses a lot of classic movie motifs. When the protagonist is about to bed the girl, he shoots her face in a hazy profile that looks like it came from a film in the 40's. There are a couple of scenes in which their are large letters, "werewolf" in the background of the lone anguished figure. The film has a lot of clasic film elements embedded in it's arthouse modernism.

The film is mostly in black and white, but the director uses some color in certain important places. He actually mixes the black and white with the color on the same screen. It makes for some beautiful effects. He does this by filming the background and foreground seperately. He then superimposes the foreground onto the background. Frequently there were several layers of background. This means that actors had to be in very specific and exact places. There is not a whole lot of room for organic change and discovery in the acting. The whole film is very precise. For that reason, the film lacks a bit of an emotional appeal. It's a little difficult for the viewer to get emotionally involved with the characters.

But it is a very beautiful film and very well worth seeing if it comes to the theaters, though enjoyable on DVD too.



Note: The director has a spanking brand new film out called "Antichrist", which is supposed to be brutal, but beautifully shot also.