Europa

Following The Element of Crime and Epidemic, this third feature by Von Trier may be best. A master of directorial skill, he makes with Europa and ambitious and entirely successful attempt to introduce a new vision to cinema as an art form.

The film follows the tragic comeback of a young American named Leopold Kessler (Jean Marc-Barr) to his native Germany. He gets a job as a sleeping-car conductor in a railway company owned by a wealthy family which apparently has strong affiliations with the Nazis. He quickly descends into a world of terror, guilt and suspicion as the family which he becomes involved with is badly needed by the Americans who try to re-establish the nation to its proper function.

Von Trier's use of devices to render from early on the audience captive of the story, is epitomised by a truly mesmerizing narration carried out by Max Von Sydow in both the enigmatic beginning and the disturbingly claustrophobic ending of the film. To trace the influences on Von Trier's aesthetics one must come up with the incompatible description of Europa as a film containing features of Tarkovsky, film noir and possibly Bergman. What matters though is that Von Trier proceeds with a virtuoso demonstration of his ability to construct amazing visuals: the black and white picture is often tinted with colour, reaching its apogee in a memorable suicide scene in a bath, where the monochrome background is suddenly flooded with blood.

An essentially Germanic film where one traces all those attributes associated with the German culture and the way they manifested themselves in this century's events, Europa forms less of a prophetic allegory on issues of current politcal importance, but it illuminates rather, the most dark corners of the human psyche with an uncomfortable but never uncritical pessimism. There seems to be little doubt that it will be one of the cinematic masterpieces of the nineties.

Review by Spiros Gangas
Taken from EUFS Programme 1993-94