The Element of Crime
Encyclopedia
The Element of Crime is the first feature film
directed by noted Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier
. The film, released in 1984
, is also the first in the director's Europa trilogy
. The other two films in the trilogy are Epidemic
(1987) and Europa (1991).
), who has become an expatriate
living in Cairo
, undergoes hypnosis in order to recall his last case. The Europe
of his dreamlike recollection is a dystopia
, dark and decaying. Fisher remembers pursuing an elusive killer called the "Lotto Murderer", who was strangling and then mutilating young girls who were selling lottery tickets. He attempts to track down the killer using the controversial methods outlined in a book entitled The Element of Crime, written by his disgraced mentor, Osborne (Esmond Knight
). He is joined in his search by a prostitute named Kim (Me Me Lai
), who, it turns out, has had a child by his target. Fisher's search is based on a tailing report written by Osborne when trying to track down a murderer who had been killing in the same way as the "Lotto Murderer", but who, supposedly, has since died in a crash. The Osborne method requires the detective to try to identify with the mind of the killer. This he does, but, in so doing, begins to behave more and more like a serial killer himself.
conventions of monochrome footage, apparently constant night, and the frequent presence of water, such as rain and rivers. The film is shot almost entirely in sodium light resulting in images reminiscent of sepia tone, though with a more intense yellow. Because sodium lamps produce light in only a few narrow emission peaks, rather than over a wide spectrum, the film has an almost monochrome appearance. The sepia is occasionally contrasted with piercing blues or reds.
The world depicted in the film is semi-derelict. Disordered collections of similar or identical objects are found in many of the scenes, reinforcing the sense of a crumbling society. Examples include white paper, light bulps, heaps of keys, surgical scissors, glass bottles, rubber stamps and Coca-Cola cans.
The film's slow pace, dark visuals and occasional surreal
imagery give it a dreamlike quality. In addition, much of the dialogue is contradictory. An example is one conversation between Fisher and his mentor's housekeeper:
In the opening of the film, a shot of a horse lying on its back and then slowly struggling to stand may be a homage
to a similar shot in Andrei Tarkovsky
's Andrei Rublev
(1968). Trier has stated that he is an admirer of Tarkovsky's work.
at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival
.
in North America
by the Criterion Collection. In Europe, a digitally remastered DVD is available as part of the box set Lars von Trier's Europe Trilogy – Hypnotic Edition.
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
directed by noted Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion....
. The film, released in 1984
1984 in film
-Events:* The Walt Disney Company founds Touchstone Pictures to release movies with subject matter deemed inappropriate for the Disney name.* Tri-Star Pictures, a joint venture of Columbia Pictures, HBO, and CBS, releases its first film....
, is also the first in the director's Europa trilogy
Europa trilogy
The Europa Trilogy is a film trilogy written and directed by Lars von Trier, comprising his three feature films The Element of Crime , Epidemic and Europa . The films are not a narrative trilogy, but rather are linked by common themes and stylistic explorations. The overarching subject of the...
. The other two films in the trilogy are Epidemic
Epidemic (film)
Epidemic is a 1987 film directed by Lars von Trier. It is the second of Trier's films known collectively as the Europa trilogy. The other two films in the trilogy are The Element of Crime and Europa ....
(1987) and Europa (1991).
Plot
In The Element of Crime, an English detective named Fisher (Michael ElphickMichael Elphick
Michael John Elphick was an English actor. Elphick was known in the UK for his trademark croaky voice and his work on British television, in particular his roles as the eponymous private investigator in the ITV series Boon and later Harry Slater in BBC's EastEnders.Robust and ruggedly good-looking...
), who has become an expatriate
Expatriate
An expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...
living in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, undergoes hypnosis in order to recall his last case. The Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
of his dreamlike recollection is a dystopia
Dystopia
A dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian, as characterized in books like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four...
, dark and decaying. Fisher remembers pursuing an elusive killer called the "Lotto Murderer", who was strangling and then mutilating young girls who were selling lottery tickets. He attempts to track down the killer using the controversial methods outlined in a book entitled The Element of Crime, written by his disgraced mentor, Osborne (Esmond Knight
Esmond Knight
Esmond Penington Knight was an English actor.He was an accomplished actor with a career spanning over half a century. For much of his career Esmond Knight was virtually blind...
). He is joined in his search by a prostitute named Kim (Me Me Lai
Me Me Lai
Me Me Lai, sometimes billed as Me Me Lay, is an ex-actress born in Burma in 1952, to a Burmese mother and an English father. She moved to England in her teens, where she soon started her acting career, at first in television series like Paul Temple and Jason King...
), who, it turns out, has had a child by his target. Fisher's search is based on a tailing report written by Osborne when trying to track down a murderer who had been killing in the same way as the "Lotto Murderer", but who, supposedly, has since died in a crash. The Osborne method requires the detective to try to identify with the mind of the killer. This he does, but, in so doing, begins to behave more and more like a serial killer himself.
Cast
- Michael ElphickMichael ElphickMichael John Elphick was an English actor. Elphick was known in the UK for his trademark croaky voice and his work on British television, in particular his roles as the eponymous private investigator in the ITV series Boon and later Harry Slater in BBC's EastEnders.Robust and ruggedly good-looking...
as Fisher - Esmond KnightEsmond KnightEsmond Penington Knight was an English actor.He was an accomplished actor with a career spanning over half a century. For much of his career Esmond Knight was virtually blind...
as Osborne - Me Me LaiMe Me LaiMe Me Lai, sometimes billed as Me Me Lay, is an ex-actress born in Burma in 1952, to a Burmese mother and an English father. She moved to England in her teens, where she soon started her acting career, at first in television series like Paul Temple and Jason King...
as Kim - Jerold WellsJerold WellsJerold Wells was an English actor. He appeared primarily in British comedies. Some of his best-known roles were in Time Bandits, where he played Benson, a mentally disturbed follower to Evil, and in Jabberwocky, where he played a footless man known as Wat Dabney.He starred in films including '...
as Kramer - Ahmed El Shenawi as Therapist
- Astrid Henning-Jensen as House Keeper
- János HerskóJános HerskóJános Herskó was a Hungarian film director and actor. He appeared in 15 films between 1963 and 2006. He also directed nine films between 1948 and 1990.-External links:...
as Coroner - Stig Larsson as Coroner's Assistant
- Harry HarperHarry HarperHarry Clayton Harper was a pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for four different teams between and . Listed at 6' 2", 165 lb., Harper batted and threw left-handed. He was born in Hackensack, New Jersey....
as Portier 1 - Roman Moszkowicz as Portier 2
- Lars von TrierLars von TrierLars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion....
as Schmuck of Ages - Frederik Casby as White Policeman
- Duke Addabayo as Black Policeman
- Jon Bang Carlsen as Angry Policeman
- Leif Magnusson as Hotel Guest
- Preben Lerdorff RyePreben Lerdorff RyePreben Lerdorff Rye was a Danish film actor. He appeared in 92 films between 1941 and 1989.He was born and died in Denmark.-Filmography:* En ganske almindelig pige * Tante Cramers testamente...
as Grandfather - Camilla Overbye Roos as Lotto Girl 1
- Maria Behrendt as Lotto Girl 2
- Mogens RukovMogens RukovMogens Rukov is a Danish screenwriter.He achieved a university degree in Nordic filology and film in 1974.After that he became a teacher of the screenwriting department at the National Film School of Denmark, Copenhagen....
as Librarian - Gotha Andersen as Judge
Style
The film employs the film noirFilm noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
conventions of monochrome footage, apparently constant night, and the frequent presence of water, such as rain and rivers. The film is shot almost entirely in sodium light resulting in images reminiscent of sepia tone, though with a more intense yellow. Because sodium lamps produce light in only a few narrow emission peaks, rather than over a wide spectrum, the film has an almost monochrome appearance. The sepia is occasionally contrasted with piercing blues or reds.
The world depicted in the film is semi-derelict. Disordered collections of similar or identical objects are found in many of the scenes, reinforcing the sense of a crumbling society. Examples include white paper, light bulps, heaps of keys, surgical scissors, glass bottles, rubber stamps and Coca-Cola cans.
The film's slow pace, dark visuals and occasional surreal
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
imagery give it a dreamlike quality. In addition, much of the dialogue is contradictory. An example is one conversation between Fisher and his mentor's housekeeper:
- Fisher: Is it always as dark as this at this time of year?
- Housekeeper: There are no seasons any more. The last three summers haven't been summers. The weather changes all the time. It never alters.
In the opening of the film, a shot of a horse lying on its back and then slowly struggling to stand may be a homage
Homage
Homage is a show or demonstration of respect or dedication to someone or something, sometimes by simple declaration but often by some more oblique reference, artistic or poetic....
to a similar shot in Andrei Tarkovsky
Andrei Tarkovsky
Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky was a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, writer, film editor, film theorist, theatre and opera director, widely regarded as one of the finest filmmakers of the 20th century....
's Andrei Rublev
Andrei Rublev (film)
Andrei Rublev , also known as The Passion According to Andrei, is a 1966 Russian film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky from a screenplay written by Andrei Konchalovsky and Andrei Tarkovsky. The film is loosely based on the life of Andrei Rublev, the great 15th century Russian icon painter...
(1968). Trier has stated that he is an admirer of Tarkovsky's work.
I was very inspired by Tarkovsky. I won't make any bones about that. I saw an excerpt from The MirrorThe Mirror (1975 film)The Mirror is a 1975 Russian film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. It is loosely autobiographical, blending childhood memories, newsreel footage and poems by his father Arseny Tarkovsky...
(Zerkalo) on Swedish television once, just a travelling shot around that house, and that was one of those 'I'll be damned' experiences.
Accolades
The Element of Crime received several awards including the Danish Bodil and Robert awards in 1985 for the best film, and was nominated for the Palme d'OrPalme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival
1984 Cannes Film Festival
- Jury :*Dirk Bogarde *Franco Cristaldi *Michel Deville *Stanley Donen *Istvan Dosai *Arne Hestenes *Isabelle Huppert *Ennio Morricone...
.
| Organization | Category | Recipients and nominees | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival | Grand Prix | Lars von Trier Lars von Trier Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion.... |
|
| Cannes Film Festival Cannes Film Festival The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals... |
Technical Grand Prize | Lars von Trier Lars von Trier Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion.... |
|
| Palme d'Or Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du... |
Lars von Trier Lars von Trier Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion.... |
||
| Bodil Awards Bodil Awards The Bodil Awards are the major Danish film awards given by Denmark's National Association of Film Critics . The awards are presented annually at a ceremony in the Imperial Cinema in Copenhagen. Established in 1948, it is one of the oldest film awards in Europe... |
Best Film Bodil Award for Best Danish Film The Bodil Award for Best Danish Film is one of the categories for the Bodil Awards presented annually by the Danish Union of Film Critics . It was created in 1948 and is one of the oldest film prizes in Europe. The judging committee can decide not to give out the award if no deserving films are... |
Lars von Trier Lars von Trier Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion.... |
|
| Fantasporto Fantasporto Fantasporto, also known as Fantas, is an international film festival, annually organized since 1981 in Porto, Portugal. Giving screen space to commercial feature films, auteur films and experimental projects from all over the world, Fantasporto has created enthusiastic audiences, ranging from... |
International Fantasy Film Award for Best Director | Lars von Trier Lars von Trier Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion.... |
|
| International Fantasy Film Award for Best Film | Lars von Trier Lars von Trier Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion.... |
||
| Mannheim-Heidelberg International Filmfestival International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg Mannheim-Heidelberg International Filmfestival is an annual film festival held jointly by the cities of Mannheim and Heidelberg in Baden-Württemberg. The festival was established in 1952. In Mannheim there are six cinema centres and 19 single cinemas.The festival presents arthouse films of... |
Josef von Sternberg Award | Lars von Trier Lars von Trier Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion.... |
|
| Robert Award Robert Award The Robert statue is a Danish film prize awarded each year by the Film Academy of Denmark. It is the Danish equivalent of the American Oscars. The award, voted only by academy members, is acknowledgement by Danish industry colleagues of a person's or film's outstanding contributions during the... |
Best Cinematography | Tom Elling | |
| Best Costume Design | Manon Rasmussen | ||
| Best Editor | Tómas Gislason | ||
| Best Film | Lars von Trier Lars von Trier Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion.... |
||
| Best Production Design | Peter Høimark | ||
| Best Sound | Morten Degnbol | ||
| Best Special Effects | Peter Høimark | ||
| Vulcain Prize Vulcain Prize The Vulcain Prize of the Technical Artist is an independent film award for feature films at the Cannes Film Festival official selection since 2003... |
Technical Grand Prize | Lars von Trier Lars von Trier Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion.... |
|
DVD releases
The Element of Crime has been released on DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
by the Criterion Collection. In Europe, a digitally remastered DVD is available as part of the box set Lars von Trier's Europe Trilogy – Hypnotic Edition.
External links
- Criterion Collection essay by Peter CowiePeter CowiePeter Cowie is a film historian and author of more than thirty books on film. In 1963 he was the founder/publisher and general editor of the annual International Film Guide, a survey of worldwide film production. Educated at Charterhouse School, and an Exhibitioner in History at Magdalene...