Although it was wonderfully entertaining I was shocked by the manner in which Trier treated the man he most admired, Leth. Forcing Leth to go back to the horrors of Bombay? Give me a break! Is Trier this big of an ass or is most of it a rehearsed act?
shareThe repor between the two guys seemed very friendly, and they laughed at a lot of the harsher stuff they said to each other. I don't think I'd characterize anything either of the guys did or said as all that bad, just because of the context.
shareI don't know much about Trier, so I don't know how much of an ass he is, but by the time the credits rolled, I ended up with a very different view of their interaction in "Obstructions."
During the film, there are a few mentions of Leth suffering from depression, and I get the feeling that Trier was making an effort to help Leth by challenging him and engaging him intellectually - or at least by distracting him.
I just think Lars must be pretty distinct kinda dude. It's no secret that his actors - particularly his female leads - do not like him much, and he is reputed to be quite the diabolical, scheming manipulator of when it comes to his directing style. However, I think he's a damn genius. A true original with a method to his madness (sorry to be coloquial but hey, this is the frickin' Internet).
And I think he's hillarious, albeit in his own unorthodox way. I mean, come on. "It has to be set in Cuba"? I nearly fell out of my damn chair that was so funny. "I'll eat the caviar by myself". It's ridiculous. Leth was attuned to his sense of humour and it created a rapport that actually came across as quite tender - a tender middleground between two big egos. I felt this was the core of the film, the relationship, the human element. It was a pleasure to watch, and any 'antagonism' in the relationsip between Trier and Leth was of the playful kind - the kind afforded by friendship.
My personal opinion is just that Von Trier is very very pretentious and seems to think damn highly of himself. It is alllll ego.
shareIs Lars von Trier a big ass?
Lars von Trier is if anything a great manipulator. He doesn't really do much, this documentary (if I may say so) even ends up proofing that he in fact is a coward himself - and Joergen Leth is his hero and role-model as a human being.
People in other countries may not know this, but Joergen Leth is widely known in Denmark as the annual commentary of the Tour de France. Most Danes including me had never heard of Joergen Leth's "The Perfect Human" or even him being a director before "The Five Obstructions".
That was beside the point, sorry. I find that Lars von Trier seeks the truth. He doesn't care about good actors' performances or beautiful cuts and cameras.
Lars von Trier wants to bomb Berlin and then film the only flower still standing. That's his way. He takes Bjork and Nicole Kidman - respected artists, and then he breaks them down. He doesn't want that, in which they are skilled and have been practicing all of their their artistic lives. He want's the truth. He does not want a Nicole Kidman, who can play perfectly in an instant, cry when she needs to and do exactly what the director says. No, he want's Nicole Kidman to give up acting - and then act!
And these are no secrets. He proclaims it all the time. He films an important scene over and over again, the actors being despaired, as they think, they have done their truly best. Lars von Trier does not want the best - he wants the human behind the actor.
As with this film, "The Five Obstructions", where the victim/'actor' is a director, one of his good friends and role-models. It's such a misunderstanding to interpret this method as cruelty. Although perhaps it is cruel. But he really uses this to break down people - to make them perform better. On the Dogville set, he once said that after shooting the perfect scene with an actor, he shot it 2-3 times more - because in one of these shots, the actor might get tired and unconcentrated, not thinking and controlling so much. And that was the shot, he wanted!
To conclude: Lars von Trier is an ass a long way. Really, I just think, he wants to marter himself. He want's to do crazy stuff like Dogme and Dogville with the chalk lines up untill the point, where nobody likes it anymore. He wants to make "Breaking the Waves", then "Dancer in the Dark" and then the Dogville-/American-trilogy - each of the 5 with the excact same trivial theme of the girl being purified through suffering. Ultimately, he wants this to be himself. But he does not have the guts. Lars von Trier is afraid of doing what he is afraid of. So he makes his caracters do this for him. Or Joergen Leth. It's his sisyfos-mountain. And while doing this, he happens to throw off great films.
"Lars von Trier wants to bomb Berlin and then film the only flower still standing."
Beautifully put. This is exactly why von Trier is my favorite director. Actually, I call him more of an artist than a director, because his films are both fact and fiction. Sure, there's a script and actors, but are the actors acting, or are they reacting in a way a normal person would under the same circumstances? This is where von Trier finds the perfect balance between mainstream and art cinema. Like you said, he doesn't want the best, he wants the human behind the actor. He doesn't care how good of an actor someone is, because he's not interested in seeing someone act out a scene. He wants them to experience the scene, rather than play it. That's the brilliance of Lars von Trier.
100% agree. Lars von Trier is a truthseeker.
I must say, it's amazing to receive a response to an 8½ year old post (!). Feels like a previous life. Thanks for your kind words :)
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upnsm0kebr missed the point of the end of the film. Trier created this entire challange, The Five Obstructions, to try and cajole Jørgen Leth out of his depression and self-exile in Haiti.
I'm not saying Trier is a lovely and warm human being. I do not know him. But the tremendous thought and effort, not to mention expense, shown in this movie, demonstrates Triers love, respect, and admiration for this man who personally, and thru his works, has changed Trier's life.
I was greatly moved by this movie.
Does anyone know where I can get a copy of "The Perfect Human", preferable with subtitles, but I would take it in the original Danish. Thanks.
Ken Jacowitz
'The Perfect Human' is featured in it's full length (13mins) on the Dansish DVD release of The Five Obstructions - but without subtitles.
sharethe us dvd hits shelves oct. 5th and has the full origional Perfect Human with subtitles.
shareThis movie is like that scene in Star Wars where Darth Vader speaks to Obi Wan for the first time.
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Not sure if I agree that the smarter you are the more you like von Trier's work, thats quite a pompous statement. I myself love von Trier's works because they make me think and because they tend to be more challenging than more mainstream films available. Having said that, some of his films are exceedingly manipulative and can make the viewer feel almost 'raped' of his/her sensitivity, such as in Dancer in the Dark, where we are slowly trained to sympathise with Bjorks character, only to have to see her executed before us at the end. The fantastic thing about this is that it really leaves you in a state of shock, Trier manages to get real emtions out of you that hollywood blockbusters wont touch. They often use love, pity, excitement (through action) etc, but how often do you leave a mainstream hollywood film feeling as if a close friend has been wrongly executed? It may be extreme but this is the genius of von Trier, he evolks real emotions through his chosen medium of film. The Dogme films aimed to get as close to reality as possible, and this is basically what von Trier attempts to achieve with the five obstructions. Von Trier is in a unique position to be able to do what he wants with his films, unrestricted in Denmark due to his national fame. There's no point loving or hating him because either way he will disappoint you eventually.
Mattius P. Goodbody
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I think the Fifth Obstruction explained why he acted the way he did so my answer is he is not as big an ass as he showed he was earlier in the film
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