The Element of Crime [Criterion Collection]

Director: Lars von Trier Lars von Trier

Overview

Before the back-to-basics approach of the Dogma 95 manifesto, director Lars Von Trier was enamored by the tricks of filmmaking. His first feature, The Element of Crime, is an amber-soaked visual feast. With its distinctive color scheme, previous transfers of the film have been a muddy mess, making for a less than satisfying home-viewing experience. With this release from The Criterion Collection, the images have been restored splendidly. The film is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio and is 16 x 9 enhanced. The soundtrack is in its original mono, so some of the dialogue competes with the rain-soaked sets, but much of that problem can be abated by enabling the English subtitles. The disc also features color bars, a theatrical trailer, and a documentary on the filmmaker. Entitled "Transformer: A Portrait of Lars Von Trier, it is a candid examination of his career consisting of numerous on-camera interviews with Von Trier and those who have worked on his films, as well as on-set footage of his breakthrough film Breaking the Waves. Though short on supplemental features, the print quality makes this disc another flawless presentation from Criterion.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/21/2010
UPC:	0037429149423
Original Release:	1984
Source:	Criterion Collection
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[monaural]
Language:	English
Time:	1:44:00
Sales rank:	41,459

Special Features

Widescreen digital transfer, enhanced for 16x9 televisions; Stig Bjorkman's critically acclaimed 52-minute documentary: "Tranceformer: A Portrait of Lars von Trier" [1997], with optional English subtitles; Trailer; In English with optional subtitles; Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Michael Elphick	Fisher
Esmond Knight	Osborne
Me Me Lai	Kim
Jerold Wells	Police Chief Kramer,Kramer
Ahmed El Shenawi	Therapist
Astrid Henning-Jensen	Osborne's Housekeeper
Janos Hersko	Coroner
Stig Larsson	Coroner's Assistant
Harry Harper	First Hotel Clerk
Roman Moszkowicz	Second Hotel Clerk
Lars von Trier	Schmuck of Ages
Frederik Casby	White Policeman
Duke Addabavo	Black Policeman
János Herskó	Coroner
Camilla Roos	First Lotto Girl
Maria Behrendt	Lotto Girls
Jon Carlsen	Angry Policeman
Leif Magnusson	Hotel Guest
Preben Rye	Grandfather
Gotha Andersen	Judge
Bo Holten	Composer

Technical Credits

Lars von Trier

Niels Voersel

Tom Elling

Tómas Gíslason

Lars von Trier	Director,Producer,Screenwriter
Per Holst	Executive Producer,Producer
Niels Voersel	Screenwriter
Tom Elling	Screenwriter
Tómas Gíslason	Screenwriter

Scene Index

Side #1 --
0. Chapters
1. Cairo [:14]
2. Osbourne [2:45]
3. Kramer [5:38]
4. Lotto Murders [1:53]
5. The Archives [5:37]
6. A Beatiful Corpse [3:42]
7. Who Is Harry Grey? [4:37]
8. The Tailing Report [:38]
9. Halberschtad [2:38]
10. Kim [5:16]
11. Tunnel of Love [3:26]
12. Counting [4:59]
13. Dritten Marsk [:34]
14. Drifting [3:38]
15. A Mess [3:55]
16. Meeting [3:56]
17. The Dive [5:29]
18. End Credits [5:45]
0. Tranceformer: A Portrait of Lars von Tier
1. From One to Ten [3:05]
2. Orgins / Europa Trilogy [3:25]
3. Upbringing [5:23]
4. Enfant Terrible [3:43]
5. Evil and Idealism [1:08]
6. Phobias [6:42]
7. Breaking the Waves [:12]
8. A Little Knight [2:53]
9. A Personal Perestroika [5:12]
10. Creation and Destruction [1:15]
11. End Credits [4:53]

Menu

Side #1 --
   Play the Movie
   Trailer
   Color Bars

Editorial Reviews

Lars von Trier's The Element of Crime is a cerebral, postmodern, well-conceived, and beautifully shot film. But for all of its cleverness and its striking imagery, it's strangely unsatisfying. After making this film, and the equally stylized but more entertaining Zentropa, von Trier eventually moved on to co-found the Dogme movement. After making The Element of Crime, it would be understandable if the filmmaker felt he'd exhausted the possibilities of this kind of cinema. The Element of Crime's vaguely sci-fi premise is reminiscent of other postmodern science fiction
oirs like Alphaville and Blade Runner, and presages the geometrically motivated serial killer and color-coded dystopia in Alex Cox's Death and the Compass. This film's carefully composed images, strange color scheme, and amusingly self-conscious voice-over couldn't be further from Dogme. While it's fairly fascinating, sporadically funny, and intellectually engaging, it all seems more like an elaborate mind game than a story, and it's completely devoid of emotional weight. Von Trier is comically aware of the film's shaky plotting. The hypnotist (Ahmed El Shenawi) reminds his meandering narrator, Fisher (Michael Elphick), early on in the film, "The story, what is the story?" and he could just as well ask it again at the end. Von Trier mined richer emotional ground in his later films, and while his sincerity will probably always be questioned, few would disagree that his post-Dogme work has more raw emotional power. The Element of Crime is impressive filmmaking, but it's very cold.

All Movie Guide - Josh Ralske