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)

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.

---

Plot Keywords:

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

---

Taglines:

A film by idiots, about idiots, for idiots

---

Genres:

Comedy | Drama

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexuality and nudity, and for language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Part of the Canon of Danish Art and Culture.

---

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.

---

Quotes

[at Stoffer's birthday party]
Susanne: I think Stoffer should choose what we do next. Because it's his party.
Stoffer: Gang bang.
Susanne: No, listen, we've got picture lotto, spin the bottle...
Stoffer: Gang bang.
Nana: Count me in. Gang bang! Gang bang!

---

Alternate Versions

To avoid an NC-17 rating, the U.S. distributor used black bars to cover all shots of male genitals and penetration during the orgy scene.

---

Connections

Referenced in The History of Hardcore (2002)

---

Soundtracks

The Swan
by Camille Saint-Saëns (as Camille Saint-Saens)

User Reviews

A stone in Your Shoe

In Epidemic, one of his previous films, Lars von Trier noted that "a film must be like a stone in the shoe". Eleven years after Epidemic, Lars von Trier is famous, his budgets grew larger and so do the stones he puts in the spectators shoes. No, reality is never what you think it is. It stops moving when you expect it to rush, and than it rushes in a way that makes you dizzy. People that you considered to be serious collapse when it comes to testing their intentions in reality, and people that you never took a note of will prove to be the real heroes of life. At the same time Lars von Trier and his excellent actor ensemble try to explain why (non violent) social experiments always fail, in spite of what we learn at school and watch on TV. They fail for three main reasons. First, the intentions of the hardcore of every movement of this kind are different that the ones they declare on. Second, the few who take a social project seriously will remain outside the hardcore group in a lonely, non-influential position. And third: the external conditions for running an experiment of this kind are such, that it's impact is limited up front to zero, often without the acting persons realize it. A brilliant movie of a brilliant filmmaker, who revolutionized the cinema in the last generation. A must for every thinking person.

Details

Official Sites:

Dogme 95 collective

Country:

Denmark France Netherlands Germany Sweden Italy

Language:

Danish

Release Date:

21 May 1998 (France)

Also Known As:

The Idiots

Filming Locations:

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