
Directing
Lars von Trier
Born 1956-04-30 · Copenhagen, Denmark
Lars von Trier (born Lars Trier; 30 April 1956) 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. He is known for his female-centric parables and his exploration of controversial subject matter. Von Trier began making his own films at the age of 11 after receiving a Super-8 camera as a gift, and his first publicly released film was an experimental short called The Orchid Gardener, in 1977. His first feature film came seven years later, The Element of Crime, in 1984. As of 2010, he has directed a further 10 feature films, 5 short films and 4 television productions. He has been married twice and is currently married to Bente Frøge. Von Trier suffers periodically from depression, as well as various fears and phobias, including an intense fear of flying. As he himself once put it, "Basically, I'm afraid of everything in life, except filmmaking".
Acting credits
6.6In the sixties, Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007) built a house on the remote island of Fårö, located in the Baltic Sea, and left Stockholm to live there. When he died, the house was preserved. A group of very special film buffs, came from all over the world, travel to Fårö in search of the genius and his legacy. (An abridged version of Bergman's Video, 2012.)
Trespassing Bergman
2013
6.5A group of people gather at a Copenhagen suburban home to break all the limitations and to bring out the 'inner idiot' in themselves.
The Idiots
1998
6.4Commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, "To Each His Own Cinema" brought together 33 of the world's pre-eminent filmmakers to produce short pieces exploring the multifarious facets of cinema and their perspective on the state of their chosen artform in the early 21st century.
To Each His Own Cinema
2007
7.3Since the invention of cinema, the standard format for recording moving images has been film. Over the past two decades, a new form of digital filmmaking has emerged, creating a groundbreaking evolution in the medium. Keanu Reeves explores the development of cinema and the impact of digital filmmaking via in-depth interviews with Hollywood masters, such as James Cameron, David Fincher, David Lynch, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Steven Soderbergh, and many more.
Side by Side
2012
7.3Just after World War II, an American takes a railway job in Germany, but finds his position politically sensitive with various people trying to use him.
Europa
1991
6.4Fisher, an ex-detective, decides to take one final case when a mysterious serial killer claims the lives of several young girls. Fisher, unable to find the culprit, turns to Osbourne, a writer who was once respected for his contributions to the field of criminology. Fisher begins to use Osbourne's technique, which involves empathizing with serial killers; however, as the detective becomes increasingly engrossed in this method, things take a disturbing turn.
The Element of Crime
1984
7.0A documentary on the creation of Lars von Trier's fascinating drama Dogville starring amongst others Nicole Kidman, Paul Bettany, Stellan Skarsgård, Ben Gazzara, Lauren Bacall and James Caan. Showcasing behind-the-scenes footage and providing a much deeper look inside the world of filmmaking including some moments of insight that are hard to believe.
Dogville Confessions
2004
7.4The year 1957 was one of the most prolific for the Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman: he shot two films, released two of his most celebrated films and produced four plays and a TV movie while juggling with a complicated private life.
Bergman: A Year in a Life
2018
NRGet an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the creative challenges Lars von Trier presents his cast and crew to bring his vision to life from script to shoot and to the screen at home.
Creation of the Kingdom of Exodus
2022
Danish documentary from TV2 in 1991.
Portrait of Lars von Trier
1991
6.6The owner of an Information Technology firm wants to sell his business for profit. The trouble is that when he started his firm he invented a nonexistent company president to hide behind when unpopular steps needed to be taken. When potential purchasers insist on negotiating with the "Boss" face to face the owner has to hire a failed actor to play the part.
The Boss of It All
2006
NRSummer vacation. But Lars remain in town for his parents must work. One day as he bikes around, he hears a scream from a garden.
Clandestine Summer
1969
NRThe most suffocating is the awareness that nothing is happening. All the veins are drying without the blood running through them. I came to Barão Geraldo because things happen here. Here people love as much as dolls hang themselves and chicken are slaughtered to death. Would I still hang dolls and burn memories in the next 18 years? It astonishes me how less and less I do not care for things that are not my extension. Being my own destruction is the only way. Intimacy is a farewell. All I see is a lot water and all the colors are not enough. All forms of comunication are not enough for a lot of water.
Colors
2013
7.8At The Kingdom, Denmark's most technologically advanced hospital, a number of strange and otherworldly events begin occurring, much to the dismay of its doctors and patients. A ghostly ambulance appears and disappears, the voice of a little girl calls to a patient in an elevator shaft, and a doctor's fetus begins growing at an alarming rate.
The Kingdom
1994
8.0A gripping portrait of the dramatic, extravagant and ego-centric actor Ernst-Hugo Järegård (1928-1998) who would always be at the center of everything. On the out side he was a hailed and confident diva. In his solitude he was plagued by insomnia, anxiety and a complicated relationship with his father. Includes Ernst-Hugo Järegårds last performance "Aktörens läte/ The sound of the actor" (1998) and "Abstract Poker" (1971).
Ernst-Hugo
2008
4.0Marie Berthelius and Roger Narbonne conference call Lars von Trier, Win Wenders, Lone Scherfig, and Jean-Marc Barr and are also linked by digital video. The discussion is about the Dogme 95 film movement and how technological transformations affect cinematic practice.
FreeDogme
2000
7.6The mutant fetus is born. Dr. Helmer comes under heavy scrutiny for a botched operation that left a patient braindead, and begins to dabble in the dark arts in order to ward off those seeking an end to his career. Hypochondriac Mrs. Drusse finally does have something bad happen to her medically when an ambulance hits her.
The Kingdom II
1998
6.3Guided by Liv Ullmann and with commentaries from a number of prominent filmmakers for whom Bergman is and remains an important influence - such as Woody Allen, Olivier Assayas, Bernardo Bertolucci, Arnaud Desplechin, John Sayles, Martin Scorsese and Lars von Trier, the film provides a vivid portrait of the artist who in each new project found a challenge for himself and for the people he worked with - both actors and colleagues behind the camera.
… But Film Is My Mistress
2010
NRA nostalgic look at the birth and death of arthouse film distribution in Russia in the early 2000s. The story of the company Cinema Without Borders and its two founders, Sam Klebanov and Anton Mazurov.
Plankton Salesmen
2017
5.0Lars von Trier himself has one of the lead roles in this short film about a bank employee being subjected to a brutal robbery.
Good Night, Dear
1968
5.0Palm Springs resident and film and art legend Udo Kier is "arteholic". He lives, breathes and makes art and at times he is even a living art piece. In this playful docu-fiction, we follow Udo on a road trip through famous museums in Frankfurt, Cologne, Paris, Copenhagen and Berlin, and eavesdrop as he chats with artists including Marcel Odenbach, Rosemarie Trockel, Jonathan Meese and Tobias Rehberger and filmmakers such as Nicolette Krebitz and Lars von Trier.
Arteholic
2014
8.0It is the young Christian Tafdrup's (Tafdrup himself) greatest wish to become a real film director. He joins the reputable company Zentropa, where he is even lucky enough to meet the famous Lars von Trier (von Trier himself), who does not have many positive words for Tafdrup. Tafdrup tells aspiring young women that he is actually a director, and he therefore gets them to show up for auditions
The Copyist
1999
7.4A portrait of Denmark's most acclaimed and controversial director, Lars von Trier. A meeting with von Trier on a private level as well as with his film universe. Filmmaker Stig Björkman follow von Trier during a period of more than two years, meet him at work, at home and at leisure. Written by Fredrik Klasson
Tranceformer: A Portrait of Lars von Trier
1997
6.9In 1967, experimental filmmaker Jorgen Leth created a striking short film, The Perfect Human, starring a man and women sitting in a box while a narrator poses questions about their relationship and humanity. Years later, Danish director Lars von Trier made a deal with Leth to remake his film five times, each under a different set of circumstances and with von Trier's strictly prescribed rules. As Leth completes each challenge, von Trier creates increasingly further elaborate stipulations.
The Five Obstructions
2003
Behind the camera
6.7The continuation of Joe's sexually dictated life delves into the darker aspects of her adult life and what led to her being in Seligman's care.
Nymphomaniac: Vol. II
2013
6.7The continuation of Joe's sexually dictated life delves into the darker aspects of her adult life and what led to her being in Seligman's care.
Nymphomaniac: Vol. II
2013
7.1Failed architect, engineer and vicious murderer Jack narrates the details of some of his most elaborately orchestrated crimes, each of them a towering piece of art that defines his life's work as a serial killer for twelve years.
The House That Jack Built
2018
7.1Failed architect, engineer and vicious murderer Jack narrates the details of some of his most elaborately orchestrated crimes, each of them a towering piece of art that defines his life's work as a serial killer for twelve years.
The House That Jack Built
2018
6.6A grieving couple retreats to their cabin 'Eden' in the woods, hoping to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage. But nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse.
Antichrist
2009
6.6A grieving couple retreats to their cabin 'Eden' in the woods, hoping to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage. But nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse.
Antichrist
2009
7.7A woman on the run from the mob is reluctantly accepted in a small Colorado community in exchange for labor, but when a search visits the town, she learns that their support has a price.
Dogville
2003
7.7A woman on the run from the mob is reluctantly accepted in a small Colorado community in exchange for labor, but when a search visits the town, she learns that their support has a price.
Dogville
2003
7.1Two sisters find their already strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide with Earth.
Melancholia
2011
7.1Two sisters find their already strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide with Earth.
Melancholia
2011
7.8Selma, a Czech immigrant on the verge of blindness, struggles to make ends meet for herself and her son, who has inherited the same genetic disorder and will suffer the same fate without an expensive operation. When life gets too difficult, Selma learns to cope through her love of musicals, dreaming up little numbers to the rhythmic beats of her surroundings.
Dancer in the Dark
2000
7.8Selma, a Czech immigrant on the verge of blindness, struggles to make ends meet for herself and her son, who has inherited the same genetic disorder and will suffer the same fate without an expensive operation. When life gets too difficult, Selma learns to cope through her love of musicals, dreaming up little numbers to the rhythmic beats of her surroundings.
Dancer in the Dark
2000
7.5In a small, conservative Scottish village, an oilman is paralyzed in an accident. His wife, who prayed for his return, feels guilty; even more, when he urges her to have sex with another.
Breaking the Waves
1996
7.5In a small, conservative Scottish village, an oilman is paralyzed in an accident. His wife, who prayed for his return, feels guilty; even more, when he urges her to have sex with another.
Breaking the Waves
1996
6.5A group of people gather at a Copenhagen suburban home to break all the limitations and to bring out the 'inner idiot' in themselves.
The Idiots
1998
6.5A group of people gather at a Copenhagen suburban home to break all the limitations and to bring out the 'inner idiot' in themselves.
The Idiots
1998
6.4Commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, "To Each His Own Cinema" brought together 33 of the world's pre-eminent filmmakers to produce short pieces exploring the multifarious facets of cinema and their perspective on the state of their chosen artform in the early 21st century.
To Each His Own Cinema
2007
6.9In 1933, a young woman and her father discover an Alabama plantation whose inhabitants live as if slavery had never been abolished. Feeling a sense of duty to those behind the heavy gates, she stays to liberate the people and see them through their first harvest. With four of her father's colleagues and a lawyer, she faces the daunting task of resurrecting the place known as Manderlay.
Manderlay
2005
6.9In 1933, a young woman and her father discover an Alabama plantation whose inhabitants live as if slavery had never been abolished. Feeling a sense of duty to those behind the heavy gates, she stays to liberate the people and see them through their first harvest. With four of her father's colleagues and a lawyer, she faces the daunting task of resurrecting the place known as Manderlay.
Manderlay
2005
5.8In a blue-collar American town, a group of teens bands together to form the Dandies, a gang of gunslingers led by Dick Dandelion. Following a code of strict pacifism at odds with the fact that they all carry guns, the group eventually lets in Sebastian, the grandson of Dick's childhood nanny, Clarabelle, who fears the other gangs in the area. Dick and company try to protect Clarabelle, but events transpire that push the gang past posturing.
Dear Wendy
2005
7.3Just after World War II, an American takes a railway job in Germany, but finds his position politically sensitive with various people trying to use him.
Europa
1991
7.3Just after World War II, an American takes a railway job in Germany, but finds his position politically sensitive with various people trying to use him.
Europa
1991
6.4Fisher, an ex-detective, decides to take one final case when a mysterious serial killer claims the lives of several young girls. Fisher, unable to find the culprit, turns to Osbourne, a writer who was once respected for his contributions to the field of criminology. Fisher begins to use Osbourne's technique, which involves empathizing with serial killers; however, as the detective becomes increasingly engrossed in this method, things take a disturbing turn.
The Element of Crime
1984
6.4Fisher, an ex-detective, decides to take one final case when a mysterious serial killer claims the lives of several young girls. Fisher, unable to find the culprit, turns to Osbourne, a writer who was once respected for his contributions to the field of criminology. Fisher begins to use Osbourne's technique, which involves empathizing with serial killers; however, as the detective becomes increasingly engrossed in this method, things take a disturbing turn.
The Element of Crime
1984