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Europa

  • 19911991
  • RR
  • 1h 52m
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
21K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
Europa (1991)
Trailer 2 for Europa
Play trailer1:19
2 Videos
40 Photos
  • Drama
  • Thriller

Just after W.W.II, an American takes a railway job in Germany, but finds his position politically sensitive with various people trying to use him.Just after W.W.II, an American takes a railway job in Germany, but finds his position politically sensitive with various people trying to use him.Just after W.W.II, an American takes a railway job in Germany, but finds his position politically sensitive with various people trying to use him.

IMDb RATING
7.6/10
21K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Lars von Trier
  • Writers
    • Lars von Trier
    • Niels Vørsel
  • Stars
    • Barbara Sukowa
    • Jean-Marc Barr
    • Udo Kier
Top credits
  • Director
    • Lars von Trier
  • Writers
    • Lars von Trier
    • Niels Vørsel
  • Stars
    • Barbara Sukowa
    • Jean-Marc Barr
    • Udo Kier
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 65User reviews
    • 55Critic reviews
    • 69Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 18 wins & 9 nominations

    Videos2

    Europa
    Trailer 1:19
    Europa
    Europa
    Trailer 1:18
    Europa

    Photos40

    Jean-Marc Barr in Europa (1991)
    Jean-Marc Barr in Europa (1991)
    Jean-Marc Barr in Europa (1991)
    Europa (1991)
    1 sheet movie poster
    Europa (1991)
    Europa (1991)
    Europa (1991)
    Europa (1991)
    Europa (1991)
    Jean-Marc Barr and Barbara Sukowa in Europa (1991)
    Jean-Marc Barr and Barbara Sukowa in Europa (1991)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Barbara Sukowa
    Barbara Sukowa
    • Katharina Hartmannas Katharina Hartmann
    Jean-Marc Barr
    Jean-Marc Barr
    • Leopold Kessleras Leopold Kessler
    Udo Kier
    Udo Kier
    • Lawrence Hartmannas Lawrence Hartmann
    Ernst-Hugo Järegård
    Ernst-Hugo Järegård
    • Uncle Kessleras Uncle Kessler
    Erik Mørk
    • Pateras Pater
    Jørgen Reenberg
    • Max Hartmannas Max Hartmann
    Henning Jensen
    Henning Jensen
    • Siggyas Siggy
    Eddie Constantine
    Eddie Constantine
    • Colonel Harrisas Colonel Harris
    Max von Sydow
    Max von Sydow
    • Narratoras Narrator
    • (voice)
    Benny Poulsen
    • Stelemanas Steleman
    Erno Müller
    • Seifertas Seifert
    Dietrich Kuhlbrodt
    • Inspectoras Inspector
    Michael Phillip Simpson
    • Robinsas Robins
    Holger Perfort
    • Mr. Ravensteinas Mr. Ravenstein
    Anne Werner Thomsen
    • Mrs. Ravensteinas Mrs. Ravenstein
    Hardy Rafn
    • Man in Housecoatas Man in Housecoat
    Cæcilia Holbek Trier
    • Maidas Maid
    János Herskó
    János Herskó
    • Jewish Manas Jewish Man
    • Director
      • Lars von Trier
    • Writers
      • Lars von Trier
      • Niels Vørsel
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit
    An American of German descent arrives in post-war Germany 1945. His uncle gets him a job on the Zentropa train line as a sleeping car conductor. The American's wish is to be neutral to the ongoing purges of loyalists by the Allied forces and do what he can to help a hurting country, but he finds himself being used by both the Americans and the influential family that owns the railroad. After falling in love with the railroad magnate's daughter, he finds that he can't remain neutral and must make some difficult choices. —Ed Sutton <esutton@mindspring.com>
    • germany
    • 1940s
    • train
    • sleeping car
    • drowning
    • 69 more
    • Plot summary
    • Plot synopsis
    • Genres
      • Drama
      • Thriller
    • Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)
      • Rated R for scenes of violence
    • Parents guide

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Steven Spielberg is a fan of the film. Upon seeing it, he offered Lars Von Trier the chance to work in Hollywood, to which Von Trier politely declined. Von Trier has worked solely in Denmark ever since, and has never been to the United States.
    • Goofs
      In the transition before Leopold and Katharina get married, Leopold is initially on Katharina's left side before the altar, but at the end of the transition, he is on her right.
    • Quotes

      [opening lines]

      Narrator: You will now listen to my voice. My voice will help you and guide you still deeper into Europa. Every time you hear my voice, with every word and every number, you will enter into a still deeper layer - open, relaxed and receptive. I shall now count from one to ten. On the count of ten, you will be in Europa. I say: one. And as you focus your attention entirely on my voice, you will slowly begin to relax. Two - your hands and your fingers are getting warmer and heavier. Three - the warmth is spreading through your arms, to your shoulders and your neck. Four - your feet and your legs get heavier. Five - the warmth is spreading to the whole of your body. On six, I want you to go deeper. I say: six. And the whole of your relaxed body is slowly beginning to sink. Seven - you go deeper and deeper and deeper. Eight - on every breath you take, you go deeper. Nine - you are floating. On the mental count of ten, you will be in Europa. Be there at ten. I say: ten.

    • Connections
      Featured in The Making of 'Europa' (1991)
    • Soundtracks
      Europa Aria
      Written by Lars von Trier

      Performed by Nina Hagen and Philippe Huttenlocher

      Courtesy of Virgin Musique

    User reviews65

    Review
    Top review
    9/10
    The culmination of Lars Von Trier's period of perfectionism -- 9/10
    Storyline: Max von Sydow's voice-over narration hypnotizes the protagonist (and audience) back to 1945 where our protagonist the young American ideologist Leopold Kessler (Jean-Marc Barr) has just arrived in post-WWII 1945 Germany to help rebuilding the damaged country. Uncle Kessler (Ernst-Hugo Järegård) supplies Leopold with a job in the big Zentropa train corporation, but soon Leopold falls in love with Katharina Hartmann (Barbara Sukowa); daughter of Zentropa owner Max Hartmann (Jørgen Reenberg). Leopold soon finds himself caught in a web of corruption, being taken advantage of, losing his ideology, and is forced to chose between pest or colera.

    Mysterious, mesmerizing, manipulative, noirish, haunting, beautiful, and ugly. These are some immediate, grandiose, descriptions that come to mind when thinking of Lars von Trier's 1991 masterpiece EUROPA; the final chapter of the Europa trilogy. In USA it was retitled ZENTROPA so audiences wouldn't confuse it with Agnieszka Holland's EUROPA EUROPA from 1990 (equally a WWII drama). The Europa trilogy also consists of FORBRYDELSENS ELEMENT from 1984 and EPIDEMIC from 1987 (the infamous experiment that only sold 900 tickets in the Danish cinemas). The trilogy thematically deals with hypnotism and loss of idealism, although the themes of this trilogy are not as essential as the visuals. In the opening-shot of EUROPA we see a locomotive moving towards us while our unidentified narrator literally hypnotizes us: "On the mental count of ten, you will be in Europa. Be there at ten. I say: ten". A metaphor for movies' ability to transport us into a subconscious dream-reality.

    EUROPA utilizes a strange but extremely effective visual style -- that famous Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky is Trier's main-influence says it all. It's a black-and-white movie occasionally intertwined with red in form of blood, a red dress etc. According to rumors this inspired Steven Spielberg to use the similar effect in SHINDLER'S LIST from 1993 (coincidentially another WWII drama). Furthermore Trier uses so-called Dutch angels and reinvents background-projection by adding separately shot co-operating layers upon layers, but unlike old Hollywood movies that incorporated it for economical reasons, Trier uses it for artistic reasons. These carefully executed strange-looking visual techniques underline that we are in a dream-reality, we are hypnotized; the universe of EUROPA is not real! EUROPA is often criticized for weighing advanced technique (such as multi-layered background-projection) above plot and characters, but hey that's what reviewers criticized Stanley Kubrick's 1968 visual masterpiece 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY for -- nowadays it holds an obligatory place in all cinema-history books.

    EUROPA also gets accused of historical incorrectness. Apparently Trier assigns the Nazis' Werewolf terrorist-group too much historical significance. According to various online-sources that's correct (a fascinating subject - try Googl'ing it yourself!), yet Trier's purposes are neither educational nor portraying history accurately. EUROPA is a never-ending nightmare. Leopold Kessler is hypnotized, therefore the universe that the audience encounters is a distorted reality. Equally it shows how our memory deceives us -- a 100% accurate reconstruction is a lie! Although young audiences who experience EUROPA are too young to have memories from WWII, we have a collective memory of it from various BBC documentaries, so these small inaccuracies actually serve a purpose: they inform us us that we are not in post-WWII Germany 1945, but in Leopolds memory of it.

    All three Europa trilogy chapters portray young ideologists with noble intentions forced into corruption and losing their ideological innocence. The ambiguous endings of FORBRYDELSENS ELEMENT and EUROPA show the ideologists getting forever caught in their hypnotized realities. Before, during and after shooting EUROPA in 1990 in Poland, Lars von Trier and co-writer Niels Vørsel were extremely interested in WWII. It shows. It's packed with extremely beautiful shots catching the atmosphere of the time-period spot-on. A great example is the old Polish church (EUROPA was shot in Poland primarily for economic reasons) in the last act of EUROPA. As with 2001: SPACE ODYSSEY I think EUROPA will receive it's rightfully deserved place in cinema-history. Its method of twisting old film-noir love-affair clichés and visual techniques is so unique, strange and completely different from anything you will see from Hollywood nowadays, or any other dream-factory for that matter.

    EUROPA is an essential movie in the Lars von Trier catalog. Some write it off as pure commercial speculation, but that would be catastrophic. It's right up there with other Trier classics and semi-classics such as FORBRYDELSENS ELEMENT from 1984, the TV-series RIGET from 1993 and DOGVILLE from 2003. It's a unique experience from before Trier cared for his actors, and before the Dogme95 Manifesto. Watch it! "On the count of ten..." 9/10
    helpful•45
    7
    • UlrikSander
    • Feb 10, 2006

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 27, 1991 (Germany)
    • Countries of origin
      • Denmark
      • Sweden
      • France
      • Germany
      • Switzerland
    • Official site
      • Official site
    • Languages
      • English
      • German
    • Also known as
      • Zentropa
    • Filming locations
      • Nordisk Film Risby Studierne, Albertslund, Sjælland, Denmark
    • Production companies
      • Alicéléo
      • Coproduction Office
      • Det Danske Filminstitut
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • DKK 28,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $1,007,001
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $21,447
      • May 25, 1992
    • Gross worldwide
      • $1,022,282
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 52 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby SR
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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