The Element of Crime - Criterion Collection

Starring:Duke Addabayo, Gotha Andersen, Jon Bang Carlsen, Maria Behrendt, Frederik Casby, Ahmed El Shenawi, Michael Elphick, Harry Harper, Astrid Henning-Jensen, JÃ¡nos HerskÃ³, Esmond Knight, Me Me Lai, Stig Larsson, Preben Lerdorff Rye, Leif Magnusson, Roman Moszkowicz, Camilla Overbye Roos, Mogens Rukov, Jerold Wells
Studio: Criterion
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
It may prove confounding to anyone expecting a more conventional narrative, but The Element of Crime--the debut feature of Danish visionary Lars von Trier--marks the arrival of an audaciously original talent; the film is deeply personal in its inspirations yet richly informed by a pure love of cinema. Approaching a hard-boiled detective plot from a hypnotically subconscious perspective (thus establishing the tone he would echo in his later films Epidemic and Europa), von Trier presents a murder case solved from the inside out. Which is to say, the plot unfolds as recollected under hypnosis by Fisher (Michael Elphick), the grizzled cop who investigates the case.

Amazon.com

It may prove confounding to anyone expecting a more conventional narrative, but The Element of Crime--the debut feature of Danish visionary Lars von Trier--marks the arrival of an audaciously original talent; the film is deeply personal in its inspirations yet richly informed by a pure love of cinema. Approaching a hard-boiled detective plot from a hypnotically subconscious perspective (thus establishing the tone he would echo in his later films Epidemic and Europa), von Trier presents a murder case solved from the inside out. Which is to say, the plot unfolds as recollected under hypnosis by Fisher (Michael Elphick), the grizzled cop who investigates the case.

Description

Lars von Trier's stunning debut film is the story of Fisher, an exiled ex-cop who returns to his old beat to catch a serial killer with a taste for young girls. Influenced equally by Hitchcock and science fiction, von Trier (Zentropa, Breaking the Waves, The Idiots) boldly reinvents expressionist style for his own cinematic vision of a post-apocalyptic world. Shot in shades of sepia, with occasional, startling flashes of bright blue, The Element of Crime (Forbrydelsens Element) combines dark mystery and operatic sweep to yield a pure celluloid nightmare.

Customer Reviews:

so pretentiously boring, and definitely will bore you to death.......2007-01-10

terrible! i was fooled by some critics' high praises to this movie and tried pretty hard to seek this movie out. but doom on me, this movie is so pretentious, so ridiculous, so snail-crawling slow. the screenplay is also deadbeat. whole movie with amber lens painted everything in brownish color. the dialog, my god, it's also so boring and i often found myself couldn't keep my attention to what's going on. if you tried to tell me it's so good, so deep, so.....then you must be from another planet. i don't mind admitting that i couldn't grasp the least meaning, the reason why this movie could be realized into production. watching it is exactly like reading john le carre' deadbeat novels, every one of them. i won't give a rat's a.. whether this serial killer case could be solved or not, because i don't want to be murdered by this movie, by its extreme serial boredom. i better rest my case before it's too late.

Lars is a scary genius.......2006-08-15

Lars von Trier is a provocatuer film maker and you can see the roots of that persona in his first major film, Tlement of Crime. Once you accept the conceit that the entire film is happening in the protagonist's subconcious under hypnosis, it all makes a startling kind of brutal sense. This is not "sci-fi" or "futuristic". It is a straightforward story of Europe at the end of the 20th century seen through a nightmarish veil. It's brilliant. I wish I admired all of his work as much as I like this film.

Extraordinary debut by one of the greatest filmmakers today, Lars von Trier.......2006-07-14

A reviewer posted earlier than von Trier was the future of cinema. I think he's definitely part of it. This was his first feature film, and it's stunning. Shot in sepia with flashes of blue throughout, it's very reminscent of Tarkovsky. It's slow, thought provoking, brooding, and gives a mood of sadness and dread. Von Trier's early work has none of the hand held camera work that is characteristic of his later films. This film (along with Epidemic and Europa) are classically composed, and von Trier excels at it. The performance are superb. Michael Elphick is very good, and Esmond Knight give a great final performance as Fisher. Knight was in many Powell and Pressburger film during their heyday (mostly in supporting roles). The only complaint I would have is the dialogue. The film is in English (not dubbed, it was shot that way), but it doesn't sound like normal, conversational English. It has a stilted quality about it, as do other films of von Trier's that are shot in English. Aside from that, it's a magnificent film.

Hunk 'O Junk!.......2006-06-04

This movie is about the biggest piece of turd any one filmmaker could drop. I'm sorry to be so blunt but I have never been so frustrated or tired with one movie in my life. It's completely unwatchable. You never know what's going on, and just when you think you do, you realize that you were wrong and you really didn't know at all! Don't waste your time or your money on buying this. Matter of fact, don't even rent it. borrow it from a friend or the library for free, then you won't feel cheated.

From the director of "Dogville"..........2004-05-31

This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

This is Lars Von Trier's first major film. It is truly a masterpeice debut. Filmed in monochrome using orange tinted film, it adds a film noir effect to it in a way. There are a few scenes though with shades of blue and green. Just like Dogville, The film is the first in a trilogy.

Element of Crime follows a policeman who returns to Europe to solve a murder after a long stay in Egypt. The film takes place in a post-disaster Northern Europe (it is not said what the disaster is but it appears to be major war)

It is a very dark film and the use of color is very impressive and reminds me of the 1 tone color scenes in "Birth of a Nation" The film obviously slated for an internaional release being a Danish movie but in the English language. Though the original title, "Forbrydelsens element" is Danish.

The DVD also has a 56-minute documantary made in 1997 about Lars Von Trier and his films.

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