The Good and the Bad (1975)

An extension of The Perfect Human, Good and Evil is a longer, more expansive pseudo-documentary portrayal of life, no less. Using capacious titles or chapter headings that Leth's narrator's... See full summary »

Director:

Jørgen Leth

Writer:

Jørgen Leth

Stars:

Claus Nissen, Ulla Gottlieb, Holger Juul Hansen

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Claus Nissen
Ulla Gottlieb
Holger Juul Hansen
Ulf Pilgaard
Ghita Nørby
Lars Knutzon
Kirsten Peüliche
Jørgen Reenberg
Ove Brusendorff
Ditte Maria Wiberg	...	(as Ditte Maria)
Ib Mossin
Anniqua
Sven-Ole Thorsen
Diana Benneweis
Frank Bierlich

Storyline

An extension of The Perfect Human, Good and Evil is a longer, more expansive pseudo-documentary portrayal of life, no less. Using capacious titles or chapter headings that Leth's narrator's voice dwells upon and impresses upon us as he toys with the cliché "Faces", "Bodies", "Things", "Necessary actions", "Unnecessary actions", Good thoughts", "Bad thoughts", "Pleasant feelings", "Unpleasant feelings", and "Words" - the film consist of aesthetically titillating and contentually almost schematic scenes shot in the void of the film studio: faces, bodies and things. A man with a shoe. Another man with a hardboiled egg which he talks about and eats. A woman gives her husband a shirt. A couple who argue. A desperate woman. And so forth. There is no psychological shading of the characters, merely a series of sketches or examples that are as if plucked out of different everyday contexts. The thread leading back to Life in Denmark is thus also clear. The dialogue is sparse and phrases or ...

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Plot Keywords:

pregnant | full frontal female nudity | female nudity | reenactment | black and white | 

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Genres:

Documentary

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Details

Country:

Denmark

Language:

Danish

Release Date:

26 March 1975 (Denmark)

Also Known As:

Dobro i zlo

Company Credits

Production Co:

Det Danske Filminstitut, Jørgen Leth Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

78 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Edited into The Five Obstructions (2003)

User Reviews

Philosophical, I guess.

Now this is one seriously weird movie! But also a funny and beautiful one. It consists of chapters like faces, bodies, things, good and bad thoughts, acts, feelings and words. Each chapter is introduced by a male voice and then they show us people performing everyday tasks in front of a blank background. There is, for example, people dressing and undressing, eating, talking or just sitting and staring. The whole thing is more like a study than a movie in the traditional sense of the word (you know; all that stuff about plot, main protagonist, drama etc). You can find a lot of deepness in the film, but if you're just not interested in that sort of thing: there is also some naked people. So expose yourself to an original film experience and see this movie if you have a chance to!