Movie Genres Lars von Trier Has Already Pwned

Hot on the heels of his controversial psychological horror tale, Antichrist (Hey, it pulled him out of a deep depression!) Lars von Trier has revealed that his next film will be Planet Melancholia, a science fiction-romance-disaster movie that will combine von Trier's Dogme-style leanings with minimal special effects, and involve a plot that producing partner Peter Aalbaek Jensen called "romantic, in a Lord Byron sort of way." (Von Trier would only comment, "No more happy endings!" Because really, he's made way too many cheerful films.)

On the one hand, tackling the realm of science fiction seems totally uncharacteristic of the Danish auteur, who's known best for his association with the minimalist Dogme 95 movement and for making some wildly dark and provocative films. But on the other hand, what has von Trier's career been but a series of genre exercises? Even when he abandoned the stringent rules of Dogme filmmaking (to date he's only really made one true Dogme film, The Idiots) he kept the idea that creativity comes with constraint – and after all, what is a genre but a thematic constraint?

Never mind the fact that genre films are strictly no-nos in the Dogme world; some of von Trier's best films have been genre pics. Behold, after the jump:

The Element of Crime (1985)
Genre: Mystery/thriller

Von Trier made his directorial debut with this noir-ish murder mystery about a police detective who undergoes hypnotherapy to better investigate a series of killings, blurring the line between his own mind and the murderer's in the process.


Breaking the Waves (1996)
Genre: Romance

Unsurprisingly, Lars von Trier's idea of romance is pretty twisted. Emily Watson earned an Oscar nod for her portrayal of Bess, a simple minded and uber-religious woman in 1970s Scotland who, at the urging of her paralyzed husband (and maybe at the behest of God), has increasingly dangerous sexual encounters with strangers as a demonstration of her devotion to her man.


Dancer in the Dark (2000)
Genre: Musical

Raindrops on roses and poverty and blindness and other incredibly tragic happenings in the life of a single mother – these are a few of von Trier's favorite trials and tribulations in Dancer in the Dark, his harrowing but beautiful take on the movie musical. The suffering female protagonist (a favorite subject of von Trier's) here is Selma (Bjork), whose whimsical digressions into music-driven fantasies are as fun and fancy-free as they are dangerous and delusional.


The Kingdom (1994) and The Kingdom II (1997)
Genre: Horror miniseries

Remember Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital, the ABC mini-series starring Andrew McCarthy and Ed Begley, Jr.? It was based on von Trier's Danish-language Riget (The Kingdom), a superlative eight-part miniseries made for Danish television that followed the supernatural goings-on at a Copenhagen hospital where ghosts haunt the halls and a bizarre cast of characters pursue their own secret agendas – all while a pair of dishwashers with Down Syndrome comment on what's going on. It is, in essence, Lars von Trier's Twin Peaks, and a must-watch for any fan.


The Five Obstructions (2003)
Genre: Documentary

Von Trier's best-reviewed feature happens to be this meta-filmmaking documentary in which the director turns the camera on himself and on his mentor, Jørgen Leth, challenging Leth to remake his own short film The Perfect Human five times in five different ways. The intellectual game between these filmmaker friends not only results in a highly entertaining glimpse into the creative process, but offers a peek into the devious mind of von Trier himself.



So there you have it: five von Trier films, five twisted and challenging takes on otherwise conventional film categories. Given what we know about Lars von Trier's filmmaking bent, what are you hoping for or expecting from his detour into science fiction?

(Perhaps you von Trier scholars and skeptics would rather ask the man himself about his work. Head over to indieWIRE to submit a question that might get asked in their upcoming Skype interview with Lars von Trier. The ten best submissions will be awarded with a lovely Antichrist poster, but do it soon, as they'll only take entries by Tuesday, October 13th at 9 a.m. ET.)