Lars von Trier’s Europe Trilogy: The Element of Crime (2024)

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Synopsis

With his dazzling first three features, Lars von Trier sought nothing less than to map the soul of Europe—its troubled past, anxious present, and uncertain future. Linked by a fascination with hypnotic states and the mesmeric possibilities of cinema, the films that make up the Europe Trilogy—The Element of Crime, Epidemic,andEuropa—filter the continent’s turbulent history, guilt, and traumas through the Danish provocateur’s audacious deconstructions of genres including film noir, melodrama, horror, and science fiction. Above all, they are bravura showcases for von Trier’s hallucinatory visuals, with each shot a tour de force of technical invention and dark imagination.

Picture 8/10

The Criterion Collection upgrades their previous DVD edition for Lars von Trier’s debut feature,The Element of Crime, to Blu-ray, presenting the film on a dual-layer disc in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with a 1080p/24hz high-definition encode. The new presentation is sourced from a 3K restoration performed by Zentropa and scanned from the 35mm original camera negative. This edition is available only as the first disc in Criterion’s box set Lars von Trier’s Europe Trilogy.

Criterion’s previous DVD (released back in 2000) had a bit of trouble with the film’s unorthodox look, which involves a monochromatic sepia tint featuring splashes of blue and red, but it did what it could. Due to the shortcomings present on that disc, it shouldn’t come as too much of a shock when I say that this new high-def presentation pretty much wipes the floor with that standard-definition one, the improvements starting in the areas ofcolorand shadow. In this new presentation, the sepia tint leans a heavier yellow,but I’m pretty sure that’s how it should be, the DVD leaning too much towards orange in retrospect, and I feel this allows for a broader range in the shadows and better depth in the background. At least overall, since the shadows vary depending on how the individual scenes were shot. The look of the film is captured through a couple of methods, one through a filter that I believe was applied during the development process, the other using sodium lights on set, which eat up all color while still allowing other lights (blue, red, even white) to break through when needed. The sequences created through a filter can look flatter in the background, with blacks getting very heavy, but this could also be a byproduct of filming. On the filmmaker commentary track included here, von Trier mentions that the light levels weren’t correctly read (or read at all) for the backgrounds, so they never caught details he intended to be there (one of the many "mistakes" the commentary points out). The sequences filmed using a sodium light show better depth and range, rendering the slighter details more sharply. The gradients also appear cleaner, even when blending with any blue or red that pops up. The lighting and colors look rather splendid in these sequences, and it’s an incredible shame the film isn’t getting a 4K UHD with HDR as this presentation would look exceptional, especially the sequences taking place along the shoreline with floodlights illuminating the setting.

The restoration work also vastly improves things, clearing up a lot of the marks that remained on the DVD edition, though it should be noted that there are still several minor marks that can rain through,getting heavier during a handful of sequences. There are also a few minor scratches and stains that pop up, but it’s nothing egregious, and I shouldstress it’s a substantial improvement over the DVD. But the most impressive aspect is maybe the encode, which I must confess I wasn’t holding out much hope for considering the film’s look. Thankfully grain is cleanly rendered, even in the shadows and when the grain gets quite a bit heavier. The presentation ultimately delivers arather nice film-like texture.

After having the original DVD for so long and getting used to the relatively rough, if not overtly terrible, look it offered, I was keeping my expectations for this presentation at bay. Delightfully (and this is the only scenario where that word can ever be used concerning the film), this is a remarkable and significant upgrade.

Audio 7/10

Criterion upgrades the monaural presentation to lossless PCM. Though I would say it sounds a bit sharper and cleaner, it’s not the most dynamic soundtrack; everything (other than the music) sounds intentionally flat, with actor Michael Elphick’s voice sounding almost baritone. Still, the soundtrack is clean, doesn’t present any instances of distortion, and doesn’t sound to have been heavily filtered.

Extras 8/10

Criterion offers a solid upgrade regarding features, though they all appear to have been created for previous releases. Criterion’s DVD only featured a trailer and the 1997 documentary Transformer: A Portrait of Lars von Trier, both of which have been carried over to this edition. I was never particularly impressed by the 54-minute documentary, directed by filmmaker Stig Björkman, though it may have been out of frustration due to it having very little to do with the DVD’s (and now this disc’s) feature film. In the context of this set, it works a bit better, yet there’s still nothing here that sets it apart from other filmmaker profiles. As expected, it looks at “playful rascal” (as collaborator Tom Elling describes him) Lars von Trier and his work up to the point the documentary was filmed, from film school to his Europe trilogy and up through his latest film at the time,Breaking the Waves. The Kingdomlikewise gets a mention. There are some interesting interviews from those who have worked with him (even Stellan Skarsgård pops up) and a few surprising stories, like one around his nervousness in wearing Carl Th. Dreyer’s tuxedo to Cannes (as mentioned in an interview on the disc for Epidemic, was given to him by cinematographer Henning Bendtsen), but the documentary still feels to be simply checking boxes. As it is, it at least works very well as an introduction to the filmmaker.

The rest of the material ends up all being more specific to the film, though, as I mentioned, they were all created for a previous edition of the film, which appears to be a 2005 Danish DVD release.

First are two audio commentaries: one featuring Lars von Trier, director of photography Tom Elling and editor Tómas Gislason, the other featuring film scholar Peter Schepelern and Transformer’s director Stig Björkman. Both are in Danish with English subtitles. The second one is what I guess you would call an academic track, though I can’t say I found it particularly special. The main topic of the track is how von Trier’s work has evolved through the years (up to 2005 at least), starting things off by first talking about the shared themes and topics between his student work and the first couple of films, whether it be the topic of hypnosis or the monochromatic look they all share. They also bring up Tarkovsky and (somewhat surprisingly) Orson Welles, making connections between The Element of Crime and Welles’ Mr. Arkadin, liketheir respective handling of genre elements and unique characters. The two also speak directly about Element and its look, but not to the degree I expected. One thing I did directly disagree with is when, after mentioning how the filmmaker wouldn’t create any sympathetic characters until maybe Breaking the Waves, they mention how von Trier also didn’t show any humor until possiblyThe Kingdom. I don’t know, but after watching Epidemic for the first time through this set, I’d have to say that even if the film isn’t outwardly funny, its tongue is planted firmly within its cheek (it was also made on a bet with the then-head of the Danish Film Institute).

At any rate, it’s an okay track, but I can’t say I got a lot out of it. I found the filmmaker's track more enjoyable, if only because it’s a bit goofier and funnier than I expected. What can be particularly amusing is that the three do have trouble recalling specific details about the production, all of them trying to come up with their reasons for why certain “mistakes” ended up in the film or why they ended up filming something the way they did, getting into minor quibbles with one another in the process. But when they’re on their A-game, they get into the nitty-gritty of the technical aspects, talking about the film’s look, how the lighting was pulled off, and how some of the film’s more complicated shots were captured. We also get more detail about the film's story points and explanations around what they did to hopefullyclarify the plot when it became obvious things wouldn't be clear. However, they give the impression that they don’t think any of it helped. You also get to learn some random bits of trivia, like how the take used for the opening shot with the doctor and his monkey was the only viable one they could use due to the monkey constantly “jerking off.” Information like that is not surprising, and the same can be said about the stories involving work with the dead animals that appear in the film. Still, there's something about everyone being so open when discussing the film's production.

The disc then features a handful of programs around the making of the film, starting with Storyboarding “The Element of Crime,” featuring Tom Elling. In this 11-minute program, the director of photography for the film talks about the importance of storyboarding for von Trier, to the point where he will rework a scene to fit the storyboard if it doesn’t come out right. As he mentions, this makes editing more manageable and is a process von Trier, Elling, and editor Gislason had used since film school. The program also presents samples of the storyboards for this film and then compares the storyboards for the dive sequence at the end, comparing them to how the scene appears in the finished film.

Following that are two making-of programs, Ennenstadt Europa – The Making of “The Element of Crime” and Anecdotes from “The Element of Crime.” The former, running 30 minutes, was produced in 1984 and features on-set interviews with von Trier, actors Michael Elphick and Meme Lai, and other crew members. It covers all the ground one would expect from such a promotional feature. Still, it was surreal watching an extended bit around crews being divided into groups to handle the dead animals in the film, one group handling “horses” and the other “cows.”

Anecdotes—running 19 minutes and featuring interviews with film scholar Peter Schepelern, film and sound editor Tómas Gislason, assistant director Åke Sandgren, executive producer Per Holst, prop master Peter Grant, production manager Per Arman, gaffer Birger Larsen, and sound recordist Henrik Fleischer—was produced in 2005 and can be considered a sort of add-on to the ’84 documentary, with the interviewees reflecting on the production and recalling various aspects of it, including the smells. Amusingly, Per Holst is sure the film would have been a hit if only there had been “more plot.”

Another topic that comes up in both documentaries (and the commentaries) is von Trier’s film school days and the films he made while there. Criterion includes two of those on this disc: Nocturne (1980, 9-minutes) and Images of Liberation (1982, 51-minutes). Nocturne, apparently about a woman suffering a traumatic experience (I only know that from the synopsis), doesn’t have what I would call a straightforward narrative, but it does share some similarities to Element, particularly when it comes to its monochromatic look (blue this round) with some bursts of color. Images, however,features a clearer narrative, though it takes half the film before that narrative becomes clear. Taking place in Copenhagen during the last days of WWII, a German officer and his local mistress are looking to flee and (eventually) end up in the woods. It all seems good, but his mistress may have another plan for him, which may be related to an incident involving a young boymentioned earlier in the film.

Even if it’s a little more “straightforward,” it can still be a frustrating film. However, a lot of that may have to do with the source materials: it looks as though the presentation comes from a very poor-quality VHS that’s near-impossible to see much of the time due to the film’s monochromatic look (this was clearly a thing for von Trier at the time) and the dark photography. The blacks are flat and murky, and the details are hard to see. Things don’t become more apparent until the setting changes to the woods, where more light is available. The switch to a green filter may also help. Still, it’s clearly a Lars von Trier film, and it’s beautifully made, the film’s closing sequence being an awe-inspiring feat, and it’s not hard to see whythe film was the one to convincethe Danish Film Institute to give the young filmmaker money to make The Element of Crime.

Regrettably, as mentioned, there’s nothing new here, all of it being material ported from other editions of the film. Still, it is a sharp improvement over Criterion’s DVD and does a terrific job covering the film’s interesting production.

Closing

A sharp and substantial upgrade over Criterion’s previous DVD edition, delivering an excellent looking presentation and an engaging set of features.

Part of a multi-title set

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