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Europa (1991 film)
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
| name = Europa
| image = Europa-german-movie-poster-md.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Film poster
| director = Lars von Trier
| producer =
| writer =
| starring =
| music = Joachim Holbek
| cinematography =
| editing = Herv Schneid
| production_companies =
| distributor = Nordisk Film Biografdistribution
| released =
| runtime = 114 minutes
| country =
| language =
| budget =
| gross = $1 million
}}
'Europa' (known as 'Zentropa' in North America) is a 1991 political drama art film directed by Lars von Trier. It is von Trier's third theatrical feature film and the final film in his Europa trilogy following 'The Element of Crime' (1984) and 'Epidemic' (1987).
The film features an international ensemble cast, including French-American Jean-Marc Barr, Germans Barbara Sukowa and Udo Kier, expatriate American Eddie Constantine, and Swedes Max von Sydow and Ernst-Hugo Jregrd.
'Europa' was influenced by Franz Kafka's 'Amerika', and the title was chosen "as an echo" of that novel.[https://books.google.com/books?id=voTOt3GaRJAC&pg=PA83&lpg=PA83&dq=europa+lars+von+trier+kafka&source=bl&ots=uDKThwAz6h&sig=sIQF7Op80s5yLQbXttKDz65a0Wo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=sCjvUdbPE4KHswb7qIGwCg&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=europa%20lars%20von%20trier%20kafka&f=false Lars Von Trier: Interviews, pp. 82-83]
Plot
A young, idealistic American hopes to "show some kindness" to the German people soon after the end of World War II. In US-occupied Germany, he takes on work as a sleeping-car conductor for the Zentropa railway network, falls in love with a 'femme fatale', and becomes embroiled in a pro-Nazi terrorist conspiracy.
Cast
Style
'Europa' employs an experimental style of cinema, combining largely black and white visuals with occasional intrusions of colour, having actors interact with rear-projected footage, and layering different images over one another to surreal effect. The voice-over narration uses an unconventional second-person narrative imitative of a hypnotist (e.g. "On the count of ten, you will be in Europa.").
The film's characters, music, dialogue, and plot are self-consciously melodramatic and ironically imitative of film noir conventions.
Production
The film was shot throughout Poland (Chojna Cathedral (Marienkirche) and the Chojna Roundhouse) and in Denmark (Nordisk Film studios, Copenhagen and the Copenhagen Dansk Hydraulisk Institut)
Von Trier's production company, Zentropa Entertainments, is named after the sinister railway network featured in this film, which is in turn named after the real-life train company Mitropa.
Reception
'Europa' was released as 'Zentropa' in North America to avoid confusion with 'Europa Europa' (1990).
Critical reception
The film received largely positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports an 85% score based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10.
Accolades
The film won three awards at the 1991 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.Home media
The Criterion Collection released the film on DVD in 2008. The package contained several documentaries on the film and an audio commentary by von Trier.
References
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