The Idiots
File:The Idiots theatrical poster.jpg
German movie poster
Directed by Lars von Trier
Produced by Vibeke Windeløv
Written by Lars von Trier
Starring Bodil Jørgensen
Jens Albinus
Release date(s) May 20, 1998 (1998-05-20) (Cannes Film Festival)
Running time 117 minutes[1]
Country ‹See Tfd› Denmark
Language Danish

The Idiots (Danish: Idioterne) is a 1998 Danish film directed by Lars von Trier. It is his first film made in compliance with the Dogme '95 Manifesto, and is also known as Dogme #2. It is the second film in von Trier's Golden Heart Trilogy, which includes Breaking the Waves (1996) and Dancer in the Dark (2000)

Contents

Plot [link]

A seemingly anti-bourgeois group of adults spend their time seeking their "inner idiot" to release their inhibitions. They do so by behaving in public as if they were developmentally disabled. The Idiots is not concerned with actual disability, or with distinguishing between mental retardation and physical impairment.

At a restaurant, patrons are disturbed by the group's mischief, but single diner Karen (Bodil Jorgensen) develops an appreciation of their antics. The members of the group refer to this behaviour as 'spassing', a neologism derived from 'spasser', the Danish equivalent of 'spaz' (a colloquial form of the word spastic), which has the same connotations in Denmark as in English-speaking countries. Karen takes a ride in a taxi cab with the people from the restaurant, and she finds herself at a big house. The apparent leader of the group, Stoffer (Jens Albinus), is supposed to be selling the house (which belongs to his uncle), but instead it becomes the focal point for group activities.

The 'spassing' is a self-defeating attempt by the group to challenge the establishment through provocation. The self-styled idiots feel that the society-at-large treats their intelligence uncreatively and unchallengingly; thus, they seek the uninhibited self-expression that they imagine a romantic ideal of disability will allow.

Stoffer, at his birthday party, wishes for a 'gangbang', and both clothes and inhibitions are soon discarded. But when Stoffer calls for the group members to let idiocy invade their personal daily lives, only Karen takes up the challenge. She takes Susanne (Anne Louise Hassing) back to her house, where they are greeted by surprise by Karen's mother. Karen had been missing for two weeks, following the death of her young baby; she offers no explanation of where she has been. Karen attempts to spass in front of her family by dribbling the food she is eating, but this results in a violent slap from her husband, Anders. Karen and Susanne leave the house.

Cast [link]

Production [link]

Breaches of Dogme 95 rules [link]

The confession of a Dogme 95 film is an idea adapted by Thomas Vinterberg in the first Dogme 95 film: Make a confession if there were things happening on the shoot which are not in accordance with the strict interpretation of the Dogme 95 rules. It is written from the director's point of view. Accordingly, Lars von Trier made the following confession:

In relation to the production of Dogme 2 "The Idiots", I confess:

  • To have used a stand-in in one case only (the sexual intercourse scene).
  • To have organised payment of cash to the actors for shopping of accessories (food).
  • To have intervened with the location (by moving sources of light – candlelight – to achieve exposure).
  • To have been aware of the fact that the production had entered into an agreement of leasing a car (without the knowledge of the involved actor).
All in all, and apart from the above, I feel to have lived up to the intentions and rules of the manifesto: Dogme95.[2]

In addition to these confessed breaches, the film also uses non-diegetic music mixed in during several pivotal scene transitions. Producing sound apart from the images violates Dogme 95 rule 2.

Reception [link]

The film provoked a storm of publicity and debates, one of which was about the fictional representation of disability.[3] Film critic Mark Kermode's reaction was to shout "Il est merde! Il est merde!" (He was probably trying to say "It is shit!" in French, although the correct interjection would be "C'est de la merde!") from the back of the auditorium during the official screening of the film at Cannes, a spontaneous review for which he was ejected from the venue.[4]

Another controversy arose over the sexual content, which was unusually explicit for a narrative film. The Idiots contains a shower scene in which a member of the group (in character as an "idiot") has an erection and, later, a group sex scene that includes one couple (faces not seen) having unsimulated penetrative (vaginal) sexual intercourse. Both instances of explicit content are in view only for a few seconds. The film was cleared for theatrical release by the British Board of Film Classification, receiving an 18 certificate.[5] When it was shown on Film4 (then FilmFour) in 2000, the erection and the intercourse were obscured by pixelization, following an order from the Independent Television Commission.[6][7]

Channel 4 aired the film unedited in 2005 as part of the channel's "Banned" season exploring censorship and cinematic works. Viewer complaints prompted an Ofcom investigation,[8] which came out in favour of Channel 4.[3] In its ruling, Ofcom found the film "not in breach" of the relevant Code under the specific circumstances of the broadcast, that is "the serious contextualisation of the film within a season examining the censorship of film and television, its artistic purpose, the channel which transmitted it, the strong warnings before the film and prior to the scene in question and the scheduling after midnight."[9] Ofcom added the caveat that, "While we do not consider the film was in breach of the Code on this occasion, we must consider carefully the acceptability of any similar content on an individual basis."[9]

The Idiots is an adult-only movie in Argentina, Australia (though it has been shown uncut on TV with an MA rating), Chile, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, the United States, and the UK. In Switzerland and Germany the movie ran uncut with a 16-years rating in theaters, followed by a DVD release with the same rating and several uncut television airings.

The Idiots was ranked #76 in Empire magazine's "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010.[10]

Accolades [link]

The film was shown in competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.

References [link]

  1. ^ Lasagna, Roberto; Lena, Sandra (32 May 2003). Lars von Trier. Gremese Editore. p. 124. ISBN 978-88-7301-543-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=E9FYAibtRr4C&pg=PA122. Retrieved 15 October 2010. 
  2. ^ Trier, Lars von (1998) (in Danish). Idioterne: manuskript og dagbog.. Gyldendal. ISBN 978-87-00-34238-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=6LznAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved 15 October 2010. 
  3. ^ a b Channel 4 avoids action on complaints about Idiots orgy, Brand Republic 24 May 2005
  4. ^ Kermode, Mark (Monday, 13 May 2002). "Why I hate Cannes". BBC News. https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/1985492.stm. Retrieved 2009-05-23. 
  5. ^ Williams, Rhys (17 February 1999). "Group sex film passed by censor". The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/group-sex-film-passed-by-censor-1071335.html. Retrieved 28 August 2010. 
  6. ^ Explicit Art Film To Run On British Movie Channel, Studio Briefing 27 April 2000
  7. ^ Itc Orders Cuts To Filmfour's 'idiots' Airing, The Hollywood Reporter 28 April 2000
  8. ^ Channel 4 faces investigation for breaking last sexual taboo on TV, Independent on Sunday 13 March 2005
  9. ^ a b The Idiots; Channel 4, 7 March 2005, 00:05, Ofcom broadcast bulletin 35 (pages 8-9), 23 May 2005
  10. ^ a b "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema: 76. The Idiots". Empire. https://www.empireonline.com/features/100-greatest-world-cinema-films/default.asp?film=76. Retrieved 2011-01-02. 
  11. ^ "Festival de Cannes: The Idiots". festival-cannes.com. https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/4911/year/1998.html. Retrieved 2009-09-30. 

External links [link]



https://wn.com/The_Idiots

The Idiots (short story)

"The Idiots" is a short story by Joseph Conrad, his first to be published. It first appeared in The Savoy in 1896. The story was included in the Conrad collection Tales of Unrest, published in 1898.

Set in Britanny, the story describes a couple whose children have intellectual disability; the strain on the family leads eventually to murder.

Background

The story was written during Joseph Conrad's honeymoon; he rented a house on Île-Grande, on the north coast of Brittany, from April to August 1896. His wife Jessie later wrote that "much of our Île-Grande life is in that short story.... The stone-cutters are in it, our landlady is in it, and the feeling of our surroundings, perhaps a little more sombrely than the reality", and explained how the story originated: while being driven from Lannion to Île-Grande, the driver pointed out "the idiots", saying "Four - hein. And all in the same family. That's a little too much. And the priests say it's God's will!"

Conrad had a poor opinion of this story, writing that it was "an obviously derivative piece of work"; he did not name a model, but critics have supposed that it was influenced by Guy de Maupassant.

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