The Idiots

BFI Film Classics

by John Rockwell

A Dogme film, "The Idiots" is quintessential Lars von Trier and perhaps his most powerful work. John Rockwell shows how it relates to the other two films in the "Good Woman" trilogy, as well as von Trier's Danish television work and his direction of Wagner's "Ring" cycle at the Bayreuth Festival.

Genres: Film

88 pages, Paperback

First published May 5, 2003

Reviews

[Michael Greer · Rating 5 out of 5]

"May I say that there are times when you are watching a film, usually European, but often American or Asian, when the performances exceed what you expect, when you feel sorry for those performing, when you recall your own birth as a horrible, unnecessary event, when the stars fall from the sky and the seas boil with rage..."

Welcome to the work of Lars von Trier, sometime Nazi, often awkward and inarticulate, but a master of the camera with a deep feeling for the trouble we are all in.

Let me entice you with these words: there is a whole world to gain by spassing in front of those you love.