Director Lars Von Trier's first feature length film, The Element of Crime, follows a former cop named Fisher, played by Michael Elphick, who is remembering the last case he worked on using unconventional methods to track down a serial killer known as the Lotto Murderer. As Fisher returns to the investigation, searching through his memories, everything is extremely eerie and surreal. The entire film, in fact, is like watching a dream. This world that he remembers is a dystopian film noir, complete with a femme fatale, a monochromatic styling, crazy plot twists and everything else the genre is known for, but all in Von Trier's unique style.
First and foremost, this film is a visual feast. Perhaps it is even too much of a feast, as often is the case with first time experimental filmmakers, but there is definitely something to watch in every shot with such incredible cinematography. Brilliant shots, like looking down at a mirror so that you see both a face and feet all at once, jump at every edit. Color is very important, despite the fact that it is mostly a sort of sepia tone. It's a different take on the black and white noir style to have the entire film in a yellowish, orangish tint, and this coming before it became an overused Hollywood trick. Blacks and shadows are just as important as the colors, creating depth as light sources themselves live and move through the frames and every once in awhile a highlighted blue object will appear to add contrast and shake up your visual interest.
Heightening the dreamlike state, the film unfolds in such a melodic way that it becomes hypnotizing. The editing keeps the ambiance flowing through from scene to scene. Often the dialogue of the film will purposely contradict itself, creating a little bit of confusion and causing a step back. It's like watching poetry where the feeling you get and the rhythm in which it's presented is just as important as what's actually happening, even if they don't always match. This is how the brain works, going back and forth sorting out our issues until we're finally resolved in the end.
The Element of Crime is very similar to and even on par with another film noir with a science fiction slant, Jean-Luc Goddard's Alphaville. Both are mysterious and atmospheric, as any film noir should be, but these are different. They are heavier and darker in mood. The low, grumbling voice over heard throughout both creates a tension and an uneasy spine tingle that is not often found within the genre. Likewise, it's not hard to see where this movie may have influenced others. The City of Lost Children definitely seems to have taken some visual cues from here.
You can see all of the early details that would come to be staples for the director in his career, including the overlaying fantasy aspects that makes his films otherworldly while still based in realism, as well as his love of trilogies, one of which, the Europa Trilogy which shows crisis situations set in a futuristic Europe, is started by this film. Von Trier spared no expense, or thought, on this endeavor and it really payed off and paved the way for a great artistic career. What a way to come full fledged into the industry with a debut feature like The Element of Crime.
First and foremost, this film is a visual feast. Perhaps it is even too much of a feast, as often is the case with first time experimental filmmakers, but there is definitely something to watch in every shot with such incredible cinematography. Brilliant shots, like looking down at a mirror so that you see both a face and feet all at once, jump at every edit. Color is very important, despite the fact that it is mostly a sort of sepia tone. It's a different take on the black and white noir style to have the entire film in a yellowish, orangish tint, and this coming before it became an overused Hollywood trick. Blacks and shadows are just as important as the colors, creating depth as light sources themselves live and move through the frames and every once in awhile a highlighted blue object will appear to add contrast and shake up your visual interest.
Heightening the dreamlike state, the film unfolds in such a melodic way that it becomes hypnotizing. The editing keeps the ambiance flowing through from scene to scene. Often the dialogue of the film will purposely contradict itself, creating a little bit of confusion and causing a step back. It's like watching poetry where the feeling you get and the rhythm in which it's presented is just as important as what's actually happening, even if they don't always match. This is how the brain works, going back and forth sorting out our issues until we're finally resolved in the end.
The Element of Crime is very similar to and even on par with another film noir with a science fiction slant, Jean-Luc Goddard's Alphaville. Both are mysterious and atmospheric, as any film noir should be, but these are different. They are heavier and darker in mood. The low, grumbling voice over heard throughout both creates a tension and an uneasy spine tingle that is not often found within the genre. Likewise, it's not hard to see where this movie may have influenced others. The City of Lost Children definitely seems to have taken some visual cues from here.
You can see all of the early details that would come to be staples for the director in his career, including the overlaying fantasy aspects that makes his films otherworldly while still based in realism, as well as his love of trilogies, one of which, the Europa Trilogy which shows crisis situations set in a futuristic Europe, is started by this film. Von Trier spared no expense, or thought, on this endeavor and it really payed off and paved the way for a great artistic career. What a way to come full fledged into the industry with a debut feature like The Element of Crime.