Epidemic


1h 46m 1987
Epidemic

Brief Synopsis

A director and writer making a film about an epidemic don't notice their plot taking place in the real world.

Film Details

Genre
Horror/Science-Fiction
Experimental
Foreign
Horror
Sequel
Release Date
1987

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 46m

Synopsis

A director and writer making a film about an epidemic don't notice their plot taking place in the real world.

Film Details

Genre
Horror/Science-Fiction
Experimental
Foreign
Horror
Sequel
Release Date
1987

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 46m

Articles

Epidemic


About a half hour into Danish director Lars von Trier's second film, Epidemic, there's a scene with von Trier playing a film director and his screenwriter, played by his real-life writing partner Niels Vorsel, plotting out their next screenplay by painting a through-line on a white wall and placing plot incidents on it. Task finished, they admire their handiwork, and von Trier muses aloud, "a film ought to be like a pebble in your shoe," that is, it should make the viewer uncomfortable. Von Trier's films fascinate and polarize in equal measure. Few directors have had as prolific and consequential a career, or have been as controversial and inspired so many different judgments about his work as von Trier.

The horror film, Epidemic, is the second in von Trier's Europa trilogy, which examines the chaos of Europe in the final decades of the twentieth century. As the filmmakers research and plot their next film about a plague that is descending on Europe, a second story thread follows a real-life epidemic that is breaking out, with epidemiologist Dr. Mesmer, also played by von Trier, investigating. Then the two stories begin to converge, and the essentially realistic storytelling becomes increasingly surreal.

The sequences of the filmmakers at work were shot by von Trier himself in grainy 16-millemeter. The story-within-a-story, shot more elegantly in 35-millemeter, utilizes the talents of cinematographer Henning Bendtsen, who had worked with Denmark's greatest filmmaker, Carl Theodor Dreyer. Bendsten's final film was the third in von Trier's trilogy, Europa. His elegant camerawork is among Epidemic's pleasures, along with the give-and-take between von Trier and Vorsel as they thrash out their story; a cameo by cult actor and future von Trier regular Udo Kier; and the escalating horror-movie tropes as the epidemic spreads, culminating in the over-the-top finale, to the music of Wagner's Tannhauser.

Von Trier was invited to show Epidemic at the Cannes Film Festival in 1987, where it was not well-received--much of the audience walked out. The film fared even worse at the box office, where it was a "fiscal fiasco." For awhile, von Trier was reduced to directing commercials. That kind of controversy has dogged von Trier's career. He has been called "arrogant," a "charlatan," even "the Antichrist of Celluloid." But he has persisted in his unique vision. Later, von Trier was one of the guiding lights behind the Dogme 95 cinema movement, which advocated the use of traditional filmmaking methods such as handheld cameras and natural lighting and shunned technology. In the decades since Epidemic, he has continued to make films that shock, outrage and impress critics and audiences.

Director: Lars von Trier
Producer: Jacob Eriksen
Screenplay: Lars von Trier, Niels Vorsel
Cinematography: Henning Bendtsen
Editor: Thomas Krag, Lars von Trier
Costume Design: Manon Rasmussen
Production Design: Soren Gam
Music: Peter Bach
Principal Cast: Lars von Trier (Lars, Dr. Mesmer), Niels Vorsel (Niels), Gitte Lind (Gitte), Claes Kastholm Hansen (Claes), Udo Kier (Udo), Susanne Ottesen (Susanne)
106 minutes

by Margarita Landazuri
Epidemic

Epidemic

About a half hour into Danish director Lars von Trier's second film, Epidemic, there's a scene with von Trier playing a film director and his screenwriter, played by his real-life writing partner Niels Vorsel, plotting out their next screenplay by painting a through-line on a white wall and placing plot incidents on it. Task finished, they admire their handiwork, and von Trier muses aloud, "a film ought to be like a pebble in your shoe," that is, it should make the viewer uncomfortable. Von Trier's films fascinate and polarize in equal measure. Few directors have had as prolific and consequential a career, or have been as controversial and inspired so many different judgments about his work as von Trier. The horror film, Epidemic, is the second in von Trier's Europa trilogy, which examines the chaos of Europe in the final decades of the twentieth century. As the filmmakers research and plot their next film about a plague that is descending on Europe, a second story thread follows a real-life epidemic that is breaking out, with epidemiologist Dr. Mesmer, also played by von Trier, investigating. Then the two stories begin to converge, and the essentially realistic storytelling becomes increasingly surreal. The sequences of the filmmakers at work were shot by von Trier himself in grainy 16-millemeter. The story-within-a-story, shot more elegantly in 35-millemeter, utilizes the talents of cinematographer Henning Bendtsen, who had worked with Denmark's greatest filmmaker, Carl Theodor Dreyer. Bendsten's final film was the third in von Trier's trilogy, Europa. His elegant camerawork is among Epidemic's pleasures, along with the give-and-take between von Trier and Vorsel as they thrash out their story; a cameo by cult actor and future von Trier regular Udo Kier; and the escalating horror-movie tropes as the epidemic spreads, culminating in the over-the-top finale, to the music of Wagner's Tannhauser. Von Trier was invited to show Epidemic at the Cannes Film Festival in 1987, where it was not well-received--much of the audience walked out. The film fared even worse at the box office, where it was a "fiscal fiasco." For awhile, von Trier was reduced to directing commercials. That kind of controversy has dogged von Trier's career. He has been called "arrogant," a "charlatan," even "the Antichrist of Celluloid." But he has persisted in his unique vision. Later, von Trier was one of the guiding lights behind the Dogme 95 cinema movement, which advocated the use of traditional filmmaking methods such as handheld cameras and natural lighting and shunned technology. In the decades since Epidemic, he has continued to make films that shock, outrage and impress critics and audiences. Director: Lars von Trier Producer: Jacob Eriksen Screenplay: Lars von Trier, Niels Vorsel Cinematography: Henning Bendtsen Editor: Thomas Krag, Lars von Trier Costume Design: Manon Rasmussen Production Design: Soren Gam Music: Peter Bach Principal Cast: Lars von Trier (Lars, Dr. Mesmer), Niels Vorsel (Niels), Gitte Lind (Gitte), Claes Kastholm Hansen (Claes), Udo Kier (Udo), Susanne Ottesen (Susanne) 106 minutes by Margarita Landazuri

Quotes

Trivia

Miscellaneous Notes

The second installment in Lars von Trier's trilogy on the theme of Europe. The others are "The Element of Crime" (Denmark/1984) and "Zentropa" (Denmark/France/Sweden/Germany/1987).