Main Cast: Bodil Jorgensen, Jens Albinus, Louise Hassing, Troels Lyby, Nikolaj Lie Kaas
Release Year: 1998
Country: DK
Run Time: 115 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Lars von Trier wrote (in four days) and directed this Danish comedy-drama about a group of Copenhagen eccentrics who find a therapeutic release and confront apathy via unacceptable, idiotic behavior which they call "spazzing." Stoffer (Jens Albinus) is supposed to be selling his uncle's house but instead it becomes the focal point for geeky group activities. Restaurant patrons are disturbed by the group's mischief, but single diner Karen (Bodil Jorgensen) develops an appreciation of their antics. Stoffer, at his birthday party, wishes for a "gangbang," and both clothes and inhibitions are soon discarded. But when Stoffer calls for the group members to let idiocy invade their personal daily lives, only Karen takes up the challenge. Shown in competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
Review
Following Dogma 95's "vow of chastity," The Idiots (1998) bears no directorial credit, but anyone familiar with Dogma co-author Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves (1996) and The Kingdom (1994) will recognize the romantic view of mental states that are not quite rational or adult. Reveling in Dogma roughness (with the cameraman and boom mike making onscreen cameos), von Trier's characters and film deliberately, and sometimes brilliantly, set out to provoke by acting the "idiot" to disrupt bourgeois order; the skittish, improvisational Dogma style impeccably matches the premise, as neither the "spazzers" nor the professed Dogma-ites quite know where the experiment may take them. Unfortunately, the commune's exertions occasionally seem more like a tortured class in Method acting than a visceral, political move toward personal discovery. Von Trier's idealization of "idiocy" as a positive liberating power is also muddled by the suggestion in Stoffer's character that nurturing one's inner idiot is interchangeable with nurturing one's inner jerk. After its mixed reception at Cannes, The Idiots' nudity and orgy predictably provoked the American ratings board; von Trier cheekily refused to cut the most explicit parts and placed black bars over the offending genitalia, revealing how artistically invasive such (bourgeois) strictures can be. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Cast
Bodil Jorgensen - Karen
Jens Albinus - Stoffer
Louise Hassing - Susanne
Troels Lyby - Henrik
Nikolaj Lie Kaas - Jeppe
Henrik Prip - Ped; Luis Mesonero - Miguel; Louise Mieritz; Knud Romer Jorgensen - Axel; Trine Michelsen - Nana; Anne-Grethe Bjarup Riis - Katrine
Credit
Rie Hedegaard - Casting, Marianne Slot - Co-producer, Erik Schut - Co-producer, Peter van Vogelpoel - Co-producer, Lars von Trier - Director, Molly Malene Stensgaard - Editor, Peter Aalbæk Jensen - Executive Producer, Lars von Trier - Cinematographer, Vibeke Windeløv - Producer, Per Streit - Sound/Sound Designer, Lars von Trier - Screenwriter
