The Element of Crime Page #4

Synopsis: Fisher, an ex-cop, returns to his old beat somewhere in northern Europe after a thirteen-year hiatus in Cairo. His former mentor and role model, author of a treatise called "The Element of Crime", asks him to solve a series of murders involving lottery ticket sellers. Guided by the theories put forth in the book, Fischer retraces the steps of a suspect, Harry Grey, as recorded in a three-year-old police surveillance report.
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Director(s): Lars von Trier
Production: Criterion Collection
  12 wins & 3 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.9
Rotten Tomatoes:
77%
NOT RATED
Year:
1984
104 min
230 Views


What city?

My face or your face?

What are you talking about?

My face or your face?

What city?

What city?

Why did you write "Harry Grey"?

Is that your name?

Yes, why did you write "Harry Grey"?

This is the next step

in Osborne's method.

The tailing report tells me

that Harry Grey was here.

Maybe he's the one

who chipped the sink.

I like this room.

It's a nice room.

It's a room full of--

Headaches?

- What are you doing?

- Mapping out a route.

Coffee?

No, thanks.

I think you should have some.

I couldn't stay in Halberstadt.

It's always 3.:
00 in the morning.

Do you know what I mean?

I believe in joy.

You want me to say that again?

I believe in joy.

I want to show you something.

What is it you want to show me?

Kim's taking me for a ride.

Down the drain...

into the tunnel of love.

They're all right for screwing,

but you feel terrible afterwards.

Well--

You and your wife--

What happened?

We got sanded over.

And you just left?

I remember a little

tattoo, blue star.

Where?

Above her right breast.

- Did you like it?

- No.

Maybe I did.

I remember...

we were together.

People move on.

You have to survive.

No. No.

We're having sex.

Kim's drug works.

I feel fine.

But this isn't what you are after.

Let me get one thing clear.

You're trying to reconstruct

Harry Grey's headaches...

by means of the side effects

of these pills.

I need something to work on.

Don't move.

I told you, lie still.

No.

No.

I said I wouldn't

be home right away.

Okay. Now I want you

to do something.

I want you to arrive on the bus.

I mean it.

At this point three years ago,

Harry Grey's mistress arrived

to accompany him on his journey.

But three years ago, the buses

were running, weren't they?

Are you sure

this is police work?

I'm sure that on the trip

covered in the tailing report...

Harry Grey was planning

the Lotto Murders...

even though it might appear

quite innocent to you.

Harry Grey.

I've waited half an hour for you.

The bus is late.

You're looking forward

to being with me again.

You've asked the driver

to drop you off at Friedingen.

You are in your summer clothes,

but it's still stifling.

The bus is crowded,

and the windows won't open.

Last time we were together,

we had a little quarrel.

But you're sure everything

will be okay now.

There's a dog

somewhere on the bus.

Next stop, Friedingen.

- Aren't you glad to see me?

- You know I like to see you.

"You know I like

to see you, Harry."

You know I like

to see you, Harry.

Do you like me a little now?

Who's following you, Mr. Fisher?

You should try

to sleep a little.

But I can't sleep.

It's all those pills. Try counting.

One, two,

three, four,

five, six--

Mr. Fisher, where are you?

Europe. It must be.

ten, eleven, twelve...

thirteen, fourteen, fifteen--

Do you wish to continue?

I have to.

How do you picture Harry Grey?

How do you picture a man

who's killing little girls...

and cutting them up

with broken bottles?

Twenty five, twenty six--

But it doesn't help.

Thirty three, thirty four,

thirty five, thirty six,

thirty seven, thirty eight,

thirty nine, forty,

forty one, forty two,

forty three--

- I don't understand it.

- What?

What was Harry Grey

doing in Dritten Marsk?

I don't care.

One murder per month.

That means we're missing one.

Come on, we're

going for a drive.

It sounds like you're on to something.

En route, Mr. Fisher.

En route!

En route, you bastard!

Is the library open?

Do you realize

what time it is?

I want to see all the newspapers

from the last two months.

Books and bother

killed my mother.

Books and bother

killed my mother.

And my father too.

There's no mention in the papers

of a lotto murder in Dritten Marsk.

But what if the body

had never been found?

Well, I've just found a grave--

foot and mouth.

It looks like I'll need

Kramer's men after all.

Damn it, H.G., damn it.

Damn it, Fisher, damn it!

Okay, we're going in.

What the hell's going on here?

Let go!

Damn it! Damn it!

Damn it! Who's in charge

of this operation?

Ah, you feel good now, Fisher.

You don't give a f***

for anything I say.

I hope you choke yourself

in this sh*t.

Who's in charge

of this operation?

This is Kramer.

I'm taking over.

I want this hole

emptied and sifted,

every last bit.

You're trying to get one up, Fisher.

I've read my Osborne too.

Did you know that?

But I'm the one

who knows what's what.

The girls on the square

were naughty and fair.

Mostly Marie, mostly Marie.

So you got yourself

a China doll, Fisher?

You f*** 'em in the ass.

Harry Grey would never hide a body.

The dead lotto girl

was there, all right.

But Harry Grey doesn't kill

to hide a body.

The murder is for the sake

of a pattern.

Someone else

must have hidden her.

Do you believe in good and bad?

Can you make the bad good again?

Do you believe in good and bad?

Come, come, Mr. Fisher.

Did she really say that?

We're closing in on Harry.

I can feel it.

I want you to screw God into me.

I'm Kim, and you're Harry.

Your wife is in Cairo

with a little blue star on her breast.

I'll get God in there

as fast as I can.

Shhh.

But He'll only stay until I get up.

I don't care about Kramer anymore.

I'm proving that Osborne's

method still works.

It feels good.

Do you have to leave?

Harry hunts alone tonight.

What's the matter?

I got scared.

I'm all right now.

Harry is going places.

You're drifting.

If I'm drifting, so was

Harry Grey at this point.

I'm only doing what

the tailing report tells me to.

It doesn't seem connected

to the story, Mr. Fisher.

He's out there somewhere.

He'll show up.

First part, the body.

Second part, the soul.

You're drifting, Mr. Fisher.

Take care.

I'm so close to him.

He's right here... somewhere.

Harry me, marry me, bury me.

Bind me.

Okay, H.G.

What are you doing, Mr. Fisher?

I honestly don't know anymore.

But you are overlooking that

someone made the third cross.

That's right.

The third cross I do not see.

Kim? Kim?

What sort of a house is this?

Can't you see somebody

wants to scare you?

What happened?

Somebody was standing behind

the door when I came in.

I didn't see him.

This is not a game.

You'll get killed.

I found how to close

the system.

You are not Harry Grey.

You're Fisher.

And the monarch

thwarts dominion.

It stood there.

Never seraph spread opinion

over fabric half so fair.

This is Halle.

If we take the harbor

in Innenstadt as the center,

take the first four murders...

and duplicate them,

we get two points:

Dritten Marsk...

Halle.

We don't just have

a geometrical figure,

but a letter.

If the system is going

to be closed like this,

he will commit his seventh

and last murder in Halle...

in ten to fifteen days.

Does that mean we can stop now

you've found what you wanted?

But the motive?

The mind?

Mad men don't have motives.

I need to know everything.

It's my work.

It's not your work.

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Niels Vørsel

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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