Tranceformer - A Portrait of Lars von Trier Page #2

---

technical tools,

such as voice-over and the others,

have an atmospheric value.

We met at film school.

For the first years, I saw him

as this long-haired character

who always hid behind his hair

and scolded the staff.

There was always a combative

relationship between him and the staff.

I had no dealings with him

until one day...I was cutting...

I had a cutting room

off the corridor

and he'd done something

on video.

He sat across the corridor and

he had this...little video film.

I remember it was...He asked me

if I'd come over and watch it.

I wanted to.

It was the first time we'd spoken.

I went and saw it and it was

the worst rubbish I'd ever seen.

I've never seen anything like it,

before or since. It was a story...

There were two doors.

Behind each door was a woman.

I was completely gob smacked.

I had to...

I lay on the floor and laughed

until the tears ran.

And Lars sat there:

"What is he up to?"

And I think he really

respected me for this...

It wasn't a film you could hate,

you could only laugh at it.

I want to say that both

collaborators I had in film school,

that is,

Tmas Gislason and Tom Elling,

I was at the school with them and

they are cameraman and editor

they are the collaborators that

have meant most to me.

There's no doubt.

Lars had made his own films

before film school.

So he was fascinated

with technology and the like.

I had a very naive attitude to...

I was so young,

I didn't understand a damn.

I came from the art world

and had references from

representational art.

Lars had...he knew all the film

classics, knew them by heart.

And Tmas,

he was the young one

with a really sharp

sense of humor.

He was totally in harmony

with his time.

We were three separate elements

who were bound to be combined.

I think that Tom is one of those

that has given a lot to Lars.

Tom Elling.

The whole look of

The Element of Crime,

the way it was.

There's a lot of Tom in that.

I think it's...the portrayal of

images in the subconscious

that we've, in one way or another,

come close to.

I don't think it's something

we were particularly aware of.

But it's clear

that evil is interesting.

And as Dante said when he wrote

The Divine Comedy,

it was enjoyable writing

Purgatory.

But when he came to Paradise

it was pure agony.

He had no idea what to write.

But Purgatory was fun.

It's like that.

It's fascinating. How can you...

How can...

How could they imagine

exterminating the Jews as they did?

How could it be accepted

by a people

who basically knew about it?

How could it happen?

What sort of mechanisms

can get a people

to behave as they did?

It's all so fascinating.

It's the closest we have had

or the closest we have to true,

you could say evil, isn't it?

Genuine evil...

Answer my question.

Do you know this man?

Max Hartmann is my friend.

He fed me and gave me

a shelter.

Lars von Trier often appears

in his own films.

Here in Europa he's the Jew who,

through his statement,

frees a business magnate

and nazi collaborator

from all suspicion of dealing

with the Nazis.

The difference between what

you should be and what you are

is something that means

quite a lot to me.

That's why idealism, or idealists,

interests me as much as they do.

Epidemic is Lars von Trier's

second feature.

Von Trier and his co-writer

Niels Varsel work on a script

about a doctor in a world

ravaged by a deadly epidemic -

The plague.

But it's the idealist

who spreads the disease

on his curative odyssey.

The altruistic doctor

is portrayed by Lars von Trier.

My mother...her...

She's basically made

one foreign trip in her life.

That was to Yugoslavia.

During my childhood

we heard of its splendor.

Motley pigs ran around

the streets

and people lived in harmony.

She was a communist and had

realized the eastern bloc

was problematic.

But Yugoslavia was borderline.

She was shown around

on an official visit.

It was the ideal society

on this earth.

Totally idealistic...

And now she's dead,

God be praised.

Just look at the disintegration

there,

in relation to her impression...

What l, at least at the beginning

of my career, played a lot with

were these people who're very

sure of what's right

and what action to take.

You can be sure that when

they've done the right thing,

it's gone wrong

and they also did it badly.

In reality, if you talk of a theme,

then perhaps it is...

...self-irony.

At the moment I have loads of

different phobias of various types.

The instant I don't turn my

energies to the creative side

I turn it to thousands of

anxiety inducing things.

I find it difficult that, just

in order to exist, I'm forced to...

It puts a lot of artistic

practice into a certain perspective

if the whole thing doesn't

express an inner need which...

To communicate something.

Conversely,

it's an expression of survival.

He's afraid of one thing,

then another.

But the instant he sits

even at a mixing desk,

he becomes totally relaxed,

is calm.

And, I know when we...

I called him just recently,

this speaks of a side of him

we don't often think of,

the poet von Trier.

I called and said, "How are you?"

"Not so good..."

"What do you mean?"

"No, it's my cancer."

"But, you don't have cancer."

"No, but I believe..."

"But we all do.

I do every morning."

"Yes, but now I'm over it."

"How?"

"I bought a kayak."

"A kayak, but it's cold, you can't"

"But as soon as I'm in it,

the anxiety goes.

"I have to keep my balance."

I said, "It's part of the secret

for you and me."

"0ur real kayak, that's

your film work and my acting."

"It's our kayak, it's how

we keep balanced."

A set always has a reverse side.

There's always loads of tape

and it's put together

with old nails.

But it looks like gold

from the front.

And in some way,

it's the same with actors.

They look great when they're

walking around, but they all have..

...these people behind the actors.

They're put together with tape.

It's a...Making film is really

maintaining a mask.

Consequently, film is suddenly

a startlingly superficial product.

And perhaps it's what it is

in reality.

A very superficial product.

It's no worse off for that.

You can perhaps use this

to describe something

which expresses sincerity.

-Stellan.

-Yes.

What did you see it on.

Breaking the waves

was filmed

in one of the largest studios

in Copenhagen.

But in this cavernous studio,

Lars von Trier creates a set

that is so cramped

the crew can hardly move.

The exterior frame stands

for reality,

the film and technique

for illusion.

It really began a few years ago

when Lars called and asked if I

wanted to help on a commercial

for a French insurance company.

There were lots of actors in it.

At that time Lars didn't have

a lot of experience with actors

and there were a lot

on the project.

So I said I'd like to do it.

I wanted to help him to...

We had a good collaboration.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes