The Idiots (1998)

The group of people gather at the house in Copenhagen suburb to break all the limitations and to bring out the "inner idiot" in themselves.

Director:

Lars von Trier (uncredited)

Writer:

Lars von Trier

Stars:

Bodil Jørgensen, Jens Albinus, Anne Louise Hassing

6 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bodil Jørgensen	...	Karen
Jens Albinus	...	Stoffer
Anne Louise Hassing	...	Susanne
Troels Lyby	...	Henrik
Nikolaj Lie Kaas	...	Jeppe
Louise Mieritz	...	Josephine
Henrik Prip	...	Ped
Luis Mesonero	...	Miguel
Knud Romer Jørgensen	...	Axel
Trine Michelsen	...	Nana
Anne-Grethe Bjarup Riis	...	Katrine
Paprika Steen	...	High Class Lady
Erik Wedersøe	...	Stoffer's Uncle
Michael Moritzen	...	Man From Municipality
Anders Hove	...	Josephine's Father

Storyline

A group of perfectly intelligent young people decide to react to society's cult of aimless, non-creative and non-responsible form intellect by living together in a community of "idiots". Their main activity becomes going out into the world of "normal" people and pretending to be mentally retarded. They take advantage of this situation to create anarchy everywhere they go and try by every possible means to make people annoyed, disturbed, miserable, ridiculous, angered, and shocked. The film starts as they recruit a new lost soul and introduce her to their megalomaniac leader.

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Plot Keywords:

explicit sex | experimental film | dogme 95 | public nudity | community | 

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Taglines:

A film by idiots, about idiots, for idiots

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexuality and nudity, and for language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Infamously, English critic Mark Kermode got thrown out of the screening at the Cannes film festival for loudly heckling the film and yelling "il est merde!" at the screen on multiple occasions (Dutch for the vulgar critique, "this is shit").

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Goofs

This is a film that adheres to the 'Dogme 95' manifesto, so the usual goof rules do not necessarily apply. This includes shots of the crew, microphones and other equipment, as well as continuity errors.

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Quotes

Stoffer: You've no bloody talent at any rate.

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Alternate Versions

The Australian version is missing about two seconds of sexual penetration footage, during the orgy scene. This was removed to avoid an 'X' rating, thus ensuring a more marketable 'R' rating.

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Connections

Referenced in Det danske dogmeri (2005)

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Soundtracks

Vi Er Dem De Andre Ikke Må lege Med
by Kim Larsen & Erik Clausen

User Reviews

Mediocre film, childish manifesto

What can you expect from a film based on a childish manifesto like Dogma 95? Bad lighting, bad acting (with a couple of notable exceptions) and a feeling that some of the scenes (like the orgy) were introduced only to prove that the Dogma was being obeyed...

The story itself (a group of people pretending to be mentally retarded and interacting with the "normal" world, with each other and with themselves) is sometimes intriguing and certainly will not leave any spectator undisturbed, but it is not enough to make this piece remarkable.

Only to be seen as a curiosity...

Details

Official Sites:

Dogme 95 collective

Country:

Denmark Spain Sweden France Netherlands Italy

Language:

Danish

Release Date:

21 May 1998 (France)

Also Known As:

Dogma 95 - Idioterne

Filming Locations:

Søllerød, Sjælland, Denmark

Box Office

Budget:

$2,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Zentropa Entertainments, Danmarks Radio (DR), Liberator Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min 110 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1