“The worst thing that can happen in the name of science is when the system becomes all-important” – Lars von Trier
Before doing his wonderful “Kingdom”, then his “Golden Heart”, his “American”, and his “Depression” trilogies, Lars von Trier did another series of movies he called “The Europa trilogy”. Movies that revolved around Europe’s social issues in a possible future; which he started in 1984 and completed in 1991. Among them was his first movie, “The Element of Crime”, that he presented at Cannes in 1984, where the jury awarded him a technical prize, but no Golden Palm mostly due to the hostile reaction of Dirk Bogarde, President of the Jury that year. Then again, several members of that same jury were sympathetic toward the filmmaker, among them Isabelle Huppert who, ironically, would end up seeing and awarding Lars’s Antichrist when she would be President of Jury in 2009.
As a fan of Lars von Trier, I have appreciated many of his movies for their rich stories, the excellent acting and editing, but also their humanity, sincerity, emotions, and the excellent roles his female actresses always get to play. Movies where he got to express, as Katrin Cartlidge once explained in the documentary Tranceformer, his “emotional side”; which he then cohabited with his “technical side” during his “Depression Trilogy” (Antichrist, Melancholia, and Nymphomaniac). As such, a technical side that was very present in “Element of Crime”. Too much present.
Indeed when watching the movie, I felt that in focusing too much on his camera effects, his lighting, and his cinematography, Lars had neglected the storyline and the characters. In other words, the human side of the story. Because if I were doing a film noir like “Element of Crime”, which concerns a detective who tries to stop a serial killer from attacking little girls, I would focus a lot on the characters’ pain and emotions. But here, we don’t have any of that. The story is cold, detached, and the acting’s wooden. Giving me the feeling that in focusing too much on his special effects, Lars had inadvertently installed a glass panel between himself, the audience, and the characters. Making us indifferent to the story and the characters , but also distorting their real reactions, making them on screen wooden, forced, and frigid. Not only that, some of the dialogues were very confusing, had nothing to do with the story, and dragged the movie instead of advancing it. Making me wonder if the movie wouldn’t have been better if trimmed to a shorter length.
Now I won’t deny the visual qualities of the movie. Using no computer effects, but many lights, smokes, monochrome palettes, and human pyrotechnical effects, Lars has done here one visual spectacle of German expressionism. But as a story, I felt “Element of Crime” could have been better, and he admits it in the book “Trier on Trier” he did with Stig Bjorkman. In that book, he admitted his script mistakes, his detachment to the characters, to the story, but also the terrible dialogue.
Therefore, I would rewatch this DVD and movie for two reasons. First for the technical side, then for this documentary Criterion has offered in their DVD. Tranceformer, which describes Lars’s career from his beginning till Breaking the Waves.
So personally, I take “The Element of Crime” as a pre-version of the Lars von Trier we all know today. The remains of a Lars von Trier that had followed the philosophy his family had taught him all his life. Which was to refrain and condemn his emotions. A stupid philosophy he broke off when doing the Kingdom, then his masterpiece of a movie called “Breaking the Waves” he did with Emily Watson, Katrin Cartlidge, and Stellan Skarsgard.
PS: During “Element of Crime”, one to the characters narrates the tale of “The House that Jack built”. Detail that ironically foreshadows his upcoming TV series, but also his upcoming “fairy tale” storytelling done in a modern setting.
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