Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter.
Dancer In The Dark is a 2000 musical psychological tragedy film written and directed by Lars von Trier. It stars Icelandic musician Björk as a factory worker who suffers from a degenerative eye condition and is saving for an operation to prevent her young son from suffering the same fate. Catherine Deneuve, David Morse, Cara Seymour, Peter Stormare, Siobhan Fallon Hogan and Joel Grey also star. The soundtrack for the film, Selmasongs, was written mainly by Björk, but a number of songs featured contributions from Mark Bell and some of the lyrics were written by von Trier and Sjón.
The Element of Crime is a 1984 Danish experimental neo-noir crime film co-written and directed by Lars von Trier. It is the first feature film directed by von Trier and the first installment of the director's Europa trilogy – succeeded by Epidemic (1987) and Europa (1991).
Dogville is a 2003 avant-garde thriller film written and directed by Lars von Trier, and starring an ensemble cast led by Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Paul Bettany, Chloë Sevigny, Stellan Skarsgård, Udo Kier, Ben Gazzara, Patricia Clarkson, Harriet Andersson, and James Caan with John Hurt narrating. It is a parable that uses an extremely minimal, stage-like set to tell the story of Grace Mulligan (Kidman), a woman hiding from mobsters, who arrives in the small mountain town of Dogville, Colorado, and is provided refuge in return for physical labor.
Riget is a Danish absurdist supernatural horror miniseries trilogy created by Lars von Trier and Tómas Gislason. Set in the neurosurgical ward of Copenhagen's Rigshospitalet, each episode of the show follows the hospital's eccentric staff and patients as they encounter bizarre and sometimes supernatural phenomena. The series is notable for its wry humor, its muted sepia colour scheme, and the appearance of a chorus of dishwashers with Down syndrome, who discuss in intimate detail the strange occurrences in the hospital. The main theme's song was written by von Trier himself.
Breaking The Waves is a 1996 psychological romantic melodrama film directed and co-written by Lars von Trier and starring Emily Watson in her feature film acting debut, and with Stellan Skarsgård, a frequent collaborator with von Trier.
Manderlay is a 2005 avant-garde drama film written and directed by Lars von Trier, the second and most recent part of von Trier's projected USA – Land of Opportunities trilogy. It stars Bryce Dallas Howard, who replaces Nicole Kidman in the role of Grace Mulligan. The film co-stars Willem Dafoe, replacing James Caan. Lauren Bacall, Željko Ivanek, Jeremy Davies, and Chloë Sevigny return portraying different characters from those in Dogville. Only John Hurt, Udo Kier, and Jean-Marc Barr reprise their roles. The film was internationally co-produced with seven different European countries.
The Idiots is a 1998 Danish black comedy drama film written and directed by Lars von Trier. It is his first film made in compliance with the Dogme 95 Manifesto, and is also known as Dogme #2. It is the second film in von Trier's Golden Heart Trilogy, preceded by Breaking the Waves (1996) and succeeded by Dancer in the Dark (2000). It is among the first films to be shot entirely with digital cameras.
Europa is a 1991 experimental psychological drama period film directed and co-written by Lars von Trier. An international co-production between Denmark and five other European countries, this is von Trier's third theatrical feature film, and the third and final installment in his Europa trilogy, following The Element of Crime (1984) and Epidemic (1987).
Udo Kierspe, known professionally as Udo Kier, is a German actor. Known primarily as a character actor, he has appeared in more than 220 films in both leading and supporting roles throughout Europe and the Americas. He has collaborated with acclaimed filmmakers such as Lars von Trier, Gus Van Sant, Werner Herzog, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Walerian Borowczyk, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Dario Argento, Tom Shadyac, Charles Matton, Guy Maddin, Alexander Payne, and Paul Morrissey.
Songs from the Second Floor is a Swedish black comedy-drama film which was released to cinemas in Sweden on 6 October 2000, written and directed by Roy Andersson. It presents a series of disconnected vignettes that together interrogate aspects of modern life. It uses quotations from the work of Peruvian poet César Vallejo as a recurring motif. The film was selected as the Swedish entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 73rd Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist.
The Europa trilogy is an experimental film trilogy created by Danish writers Lars von Trier and Niels Vørsel, comprising his three feature films The Element of Crime (1984), Epidemic (1987) and Europa (1991).
Mother of Tears is a 2007 supernatural horror film written and directed by Dario Argento, and starring Asia Argento, Daria Nicolodi, Moran Atias, Udo Kier and Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni. The film has also been billed in English-speaking media as Mater Lachrymarum, The Third Mother and Mother of Tears: The Third Mother.
Antichrist is a 2009 art horror film written and directed by Lars von Trier. It stars Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg as a married couple who experience the accidental death of their infant son, after which they retreat to a cabin in the woods to grieve, where the man experiences strange visions and the woman manifests increasingly violent sexual behavior and sadomasochism. The narrative is divided into a prologue, four chapters, and an epilogue.
Dogme 95 was a Danish avant-garde filmmaking movement founded by Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, who created the "Dogme 95 Manifesto" and the "Vows of Chastity". These were rules to create films based on the traditional values of story, acting, and theme, while excluding the use of elaborate special effects or technology. It was supposedly created as an attempt to "take back power for the directors as artists" as opposed to the movie studio.
Melancholia is a 2011 science fiction drama film written and directed by Lars von Trier and starring Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Kiefer Sutherland, with Alexander Skarsgård, Brady Corbet, Cameron Spurr, Charlotte Rampling, Jesper Christensen, John Hurt, Stellan Skarsgård, and Udo Kier in supporting roles. The film's story revolves around two sisters, one of whom marries just before a rogue planet is about to collide with the Earth. Melancholia is the second film in von Trier's unofficially titled Depression Trilogy. It was preceded in 2009 by Antichrist and followed by Nymphomaniac in 2013.
Medea is a 1988 Danish tragedy television film directed by Lars von Trier. It is based on Carl Theodor Dreyer's adaptation of Euripides' play Medea. The setting is changed from the Mediterranean to a danish, vaguely iron age setting.
Nymphomaniac MANIAC onscreen and in advertising) is a 2013 erotic art film written and directed by Lars von Trier. The film stars Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgård, Stacy Martin, Shia LaBeouf, Christian Slater, Jamie Bell, Uma Thurman, Jean-Marc Barr, Willem Dafoe, Connie Nielsen, and Mia Goth in her debut. Separated as two-part films, the plot follows Joe, a self-diagnosed "nymphomaniac," who recounts her erotic experiences to a bachelor who helps her recover from an assault. The narrative chronicles Joe's promiscuous life from adolescence to adulthood and is split into eight chapters told across two volumes. The film was originally supposed to be only one complete entry, but, because of its length, von Trier made the decision to split the project into two separate films. Nymphomaniac was an international co-production of Denmark, Belgium, France, and Germany.
The 12th Robert Awards ceremony was held in 1995 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Organized by the Danish Film Academy, the awards honoured the best in Danish and foreign film of 1994.
The House That Jack Built is a 2018 psychological horror art film written and directed by Lars von Trier. It stars Matt Dillon, Bruno Ganz, Uma Thurman, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Sofie Gråbøl, Riley Keough, and Jeremy Davies. Its plot follows Jack (Dillon), a serial killer who, over a 12-year period from the late 1970s into 1980s, commits numerous murders in the U.S. state of Washington. Utilizing Dante's Inferno as a metatext, the film is structured as a series of flashback vignettes relayed by Jack to the Roman poet Virgil, during which Jack attempts to make an argument for his crimes.
