Biography and filmography of Lars von Trier

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:45

The films of this director can hardly be called standard box office leaders. Sometimes they are so provocative that they do not even appear on the world's big screens, and their demonstration is limited to major festivals and screenings, so to speak, without leaving home.

The filmography of Lars von Trier is very diverse both in terms of the manner of shooting and in relation to the topics covered in a particular film. Despite the sometimes rather scandalous plots, such world cinema stars as Willem Dafoe, Bjork, Nicole Kidman and Charlotte Gainsbourg willingly cooperate with the director. The latter, by the way, quite often appears in the films as a performer of the main roles.

Origin of the director

Lars von Trier, whose films the whole world knows today, was born in Copenhagen in 1956. His parents were ordinary civil servants and could not even imagine that their son would ever be able to impress the world community so strongly.

The mother of the future director fully and completely shared the idea of free education, which was at that timethe moment is extremely popular, and this could not but affect the formation of the boy's personality. On the one hand, Lars von Trier, whose films often touch upon the problems of relations between parents and children, quickly learned independence and responsibility. On the other hand, he dropped out of high school very early, because he could not make friends with classmates and was constantly subjected to children's ridicule due to non-standard behavior.

Early years

In fact, Lars von Trier's filmography begins in his very childhood. While still an eleven-year-old boy, he created his first directorial work. The animated film called "Journey to Pumpkinland" was only a minute long, but for a child who was fond of cinema so passionately, this was a real step towards a great future.

The mother fully shared her son's desire and encouraged to pull the child to the camera in all possible ways. It was she who gave him her old camera and constantly brought films from work so that the future director could learn editing.

The first step into a big movie

Lars von Trier's filmography as an actor began at the age of twelve. Then he managed to get a role in Thomas Winding's film The Secret Summer. Despite the fact that participation in the filming process was an invaluable experience, the child was much more interested in the technical side of the process, which, however, he never hid.

Perhaps that is why the next visit to the studio he was entrusted with participation in the technical componentfilming. The boy was allowed, for example, to put on the light and perform some other simple work of an organizational nature.

Striving for serious work

The filmography of Lars von Trier continued on his first serious work. With the help of his uncle (a well-known documentary filmmaker at that time), the young man, who was refused admission to the Copenhagen School, got a job as an editor at the Danish Film Foundation. It was then, combining the main work with his favorite hobby, he spent every free minute creating his own paintings. During this period, a short film "Blessed Mente" and a picture called "Orchid Gardener" were created by a young enthusiast.

It was during this period, in fact, that director Lars von Trier was born, whose filmography today includes dozens of various works. In particular, after completing work on The Gardener, the young director added the prefix “background” to his name, which made him more aristocratic.

Beginning of professional career

In 1983, Lars von Trier successfully graduated from the National Film School of Denmark, where he initially did not even manage to get into it. The talent of the future director developed so rapidly that the film "Pictures of Liberation", the young man's graduation work, won the main prize at the Munich Film Festival, which was a huge achievement for the future star of alternative cinema.

Lars von Trier, whose biography changed dramatically after graduating from film school, entered the big cinema with the film "The Crime Element", released in 1984 and immediatelyacclaimed by world film critics. The director's debut film won first place in a number of festivals, from Cannes to Mannheim.

Films that brought ultimate fame

Despite such a stunning debut, the following two works became truly stellar: "Epidemic" and four years later "Europe". It was then that director Lars von Trier, whose films were a resounding success, became known throughout the world as a talented creator of non-standard cinema.

Unusual idea

As mentioned earlier, this director is far from one of those who can leave the audience indifferent - his ideas have always been distinguished by some extravagance and complexity of execution.

For example, in the early nineties, director Lars von Trier decided to make a film that was supposed to premiere in 2024. The whole unusualness of the tape was that it had to be filmed only 2 minutes a year. Despite the rather global plan, by the end of the nineties, the director abandoned this idea and released 24 minutes of footage to the public, refusing to continue the project.

True triumph

Perhaps one of the most significant works in the career of this director was the series called "Kingdom", released in 1994. It was then that Lars von Trier, whose reviews were not so controversial at that time, found not only his own style, but also his audience.

At this time, the entire audiencethe audience was fascinated by the series "Twin Peaks", which stirred the imagination and captivated from the first minutes of the series. The popularity of this work, to which David Lynch himself had a hand, was so high that it was difficult to imagine any competition. The Kingdom series became such a competitor for Twin Peaks.

Heart of Gold

After a stellar performance that brought the director worldwide fame and endless comparisons to David Lynch, Lars von Trier decided to take on a more serious project. He conceived a trilogy called "Heart of Gold".

It is easy to guess that in future works the topic of moral, ethical values, issues of religion and self-consciousness was actively raised. The director's idea was so great and original that at first few people believed that it would be possible to translate it into reality at all.

The first part of the trilogy

Lars von Trier, whose best films are undoubtedly included in the Heart of Gold, did not disappoint anyone. The first work of this format was the film "Breaking the Waves", which was released on large screens in 1996.

The story of the main character, full of tragedy and deep meaning, is revealed by the director with the utmost accuracy and maximum compliance with the norms of human behavior in a critical situation. Some actions of the characters may seem somewhat exaggerated, but only in this way it was possible to reach out to the viewer, who was gradually stale under the yoke of mass cinema and the pressure of eternally confusingand ready for anything for the sake of the society's money.

The main character of the first part of the trilogy never finds a reward for all her efforts. At least that doesn't happen in her lifetime. Nevertheless, all critics unanimously insist that there simply could not be any other possible outcome.

Manifesto for a break from traditional cinema

As mentioned earlier, Lars von Trier has always had a rather peculiar view of the world. Is it any wonder that he behaved accordingly in regard to his profession?

In 1995, in Paris, he was read the manifesto "Dogma-95", in which the director furiously called for moving away from stereotyped cinema and creating his own vision.

This manifesto was accompanied by a list of 10 rules by which all future films of the director were to be created.

The second film in the trilogy

This part was called "Idiots" and was presented to the public at the Cannes Film Festival in 1998. The idea did not fit into the other films of Lars von Trier too much. Reviews of the picture, as never before, were striking in their diversity. In particular, critics were deeply outraged by the presence of overly explicit scenes, in which sexual intercourse was not simulated, but quite natural. It just couldn't go unnoticed. For the first time, Lars von Trier left the festival without receiving any awards.

The very same story with this film became one of the most scandalous in that period of time.

Final work

After, it would seemthe resounding failure of the second picture, Lars von Trier did not give up trying to make films about people with a golden heart. And what? Just a resounding success and a general shock was brought by the joint work of the director with the singer Björk, called "Dancing in the Dark".

Quite a few leading actors were gathered at the same location during the filming, an original soundtrack was written for the film, which was worked on by both the leading lady herself and Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke.

This story did not leave anyone indifferent, because it raised the most global issues of mankind, considered on the example of one unfortunate family.

2000ths

Lars von Trier, whose best films, it would seem, is already behind him, has not abandoned his desire to create original masterpieces. "Dogville", "Manderlay", the comedy "The Biggest Boss" - all this was just the beginning of a journey that more and more amazes both the viewer and the audience.

In 2009, the world saw the film "Antichrist", in which the number of explicit scenes could safely be called a record, not to mention the theme of sadism, so boldly and with such amazing beauty raised in this film.

Lars von Trier, whose photo already adorned the main pages of film magazines and spread on the Internet at lightning speed, became more and more scandalous every year. During the premiere of the film "Melancholia" a playful remark aboutsympathy for Hitler led to a lawsuit against the director and a big, long scandal. Luckily, that didn't stop Kirsten Dunst from winning Best Actress.

The last work of Lars von Trier was a duology called "Nymphomaniac", the main role in which again went to Charlotte Gainsbourg. The abundance of non-simulated sexual acts, the involvement of professional porn actors and the theme of the film as a whole served as a pretext for a new scandal.

The only true ally, according to the director himself, has always been Lars von Trier's wife, who has always supported any of his undertakings.

Now the story with "Nymphomaniac" has subsided, and we can only wait for what else this strange, but at the same time brilliant director will cook…