The Element of Crime
(1984)
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The Element of Crime
(1984)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Michael Elphick | ... | ||
| Esmond Knight | ... |
Osborne
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Me Me Lai | ... |
Kim
(as Meme Lai)
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Jerold Wells | ... |
Kramer
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Ahmed El Shenawi | ... |
Therapist
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Astrid Henning-Jensen | ... |
House Keeper
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János Herskó | ... |
Coroner
(as Janos Hersko)
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Stig Larsson | ... |
Coroner's Assistant
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Harry Harper | ... |
Portier 1
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Roman Moszkowicz | ... |
Portier 2
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| Lars von Trier | ... |
Schmuck of Ages
(as Lars Von Trier)
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Frederik Casby | ... |
White Policeman
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Duke Addabayo | ... |
Black Policeman
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Jon Bang Carlsen | ... |
Angry Policeman
(as Jon Bang-Carlsen)
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Leif Magnusson | ... |
Hotel Guest
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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. Written by Eddi Sommer <eddi@gmd.de>
The plots follows the descent of a reactivated ex-cop, Fisher, into a killer's mind, using a method he has been taught by his old teacher, Osborne. The backdrop of the story is Europe in an unspecified future and after an unnamed catastrophe that let the continent fall in a perpetual darkness, an apocalyptic, anarchic gloominess. More and more, Fisher becomes like the killer as he gets increasingly fascinated with the strangely complex set-up of the murders...
Ultimately, this is a film about moral corruption and cultural decline of the western world. In the tradition of cultural pessimism from the beginning of the century, it paints a gruesome picture of a world devoid of decency and morale. "I want you to screw God into me.", these words spoken by Kim, a hooker Fisher picks up during his travels, are maybe the best expression of the ultimate loss of any metaphysical sense of belonging.
The style of the movie reflects this gloominess beautifully.
There are dark and gruesome nightmares you had that linger on in your mind and strangely, sometimes in your waking hours, you wish you'd get back to taste the sweet despair again... This movie is one of them.