Epidemic (1987)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Lars von Trier

Writers:

Lars von Trier (screenplay) &
Niels Vørsel (screenplay)

Release Date:

11 September 1987 (Denmark)

Genre:

Drama | Horror

Plot:

A film director and a script writer (performed by Lars von Trier and Niels Vørsel themselves) write a screenplay...

Plot Keywords:

Meta | Part Of Trilogy | Morgue | Plague | Film Within A Film

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Allan De Waal
Ole Ernst
Michael Gelting
Colin Gilder
Svend Ali Hamann	...	Himself
Claes Kastholm Hansen	...	Himself
Ib Hansen
Anja Hemmingsen
Kirsten Hemmingsen
Cæcilia Holbek Trier		(as Cæcilia Holbek)
Gert Holbek
Udo Kier	...	Himself
Joergen Christian Krueff		(as Jørgen Christian Krüff)
Jan Kornum Larsen
Gitte Lind	...	Herself
Leif Magnusson
Gunner Ottesen
Susanne Ottesen	...	Herself
Lennart Pasborg
Leif Sabro	...	Pilot
Tony Shine
Michael Simpson	...	Cabbie / Priest
Mik Skov
Thorkild Toennesen		(as Thorkild Tønnesen)
Olaf Ussing
Lars von Trier	...	Himself / Dr. Mesmer (as Lars Von Trier)
Niels Vørsel	...	Himself

Directed by
Lars von Trier

Writing credits
Lars von Trier		(screenplay) (as Lars Von Trier) &
Niels Vørsel		(screenplay)

Produced by
Jacob Eriksen	....	producer

Original Music by
Peter Bach

Cinematography by
Henning Bendtsen		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Thomas Krag
Lars von Trier		(as Lars Von Trier)

Production Design by
Søren Gam		(as Søren G. Henriksen)

Costume Design by
Manon Rasmussen

Makeup Department
Bibbi Bergholdt	....	makeup artist
Søren Hedegaard	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Per Årman	....	production manager

Art Department
Peter Grant	....	prop man

Sound Department
Peter Englesson	....	sound (as Peter Engleson)
Thomas Krag	....	sound
Niels Vørsel	....	sound

Special Effects by
Søren Gam	....	special effects (as Søren Gam Henriksen)

Camera and Electrical Department
Henning Bendtsen	....	camera operator: 35 mm
Søren Danielsen	....	grip
Søren Danielsen	....	lighting technician
Leif Barney Fick	....	grip
Leif Barney Fick	....	lighting technician
Jesper Find	....	assistant camera
Thomas Gammeltoft	....	lighting assistant
Cæcilia Holbek Trier	....	camera operator: 16 mm (as Cæcilia Holbek)
Kristoffer Nyholm	....	camera operator: 16 mm
Susanne Ottesen	....	camera operator: 16 mm
Lars von Trier	....	camera operator: 16 mm (as Lars Von Trier)
Niels Vørsel	....	camera operator: 16 mm

Editorial Department
Michael Frank Nielsen	....	color timer

Music Department
Peter Bach	....	music arranger

Thanks
Leif Magnusson	....	the producers would like to thank

Production Companies

• Elementfilm A/S (produced by)
• Det Danske Filminstitut (for)

Distributors

• Angel Films (1987) (Denmark) (theatrical)
• A-Film Distribution (2005) (France) (DVD)
• A-Film Distribution (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Accent Film Entertainment (2005) (Australia) (DVD)
• Electric Parc (2005) (Denmark) (DVD)
• Electric Parc (2005) (Finland) (DVD)
• Electric Parc (2005) (Norway) (DVD)
• Electric Parc (2005) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Home Vision Entertainment (HVE) (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Independenta Music & Video (IMV) (2005) (Romania) (DVD)
• Legend Films International (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• Raro Video (2004) (Italy) (DVD) (boxed set)
• Raro Video (2007) (Italy) (DVD)
• Tartan Video (2005) (UK) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Det Danske Filmstudie  the producers would like to thank
• Easy Film  sound mixing
• Finn Bjerre Studio  sound recording: music
• Fogdal Biler  the producers would like to thank
• Københavns Kommunehospital  the producers would like to thank
• L'Ame Du Vin  the producers would like to thank
• Rigsarkivet  the producers would like to thank
• Rigshospitalet  the producers would like to thank

Also Known As:

Epidemia (Finland) [fi]
Epidemic (Sweden) (video title) [sv]
Epidemic (Greece) [el]

Runtime:

UK:106 min

Country:

Denmark

Language:

Danish | English

Color:

Color | Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Hungary:18 | Australia:M | UK:15 | Germany:12

Company:

Elementfilm A/S

Trivia:

The script von Trier and Vørsel have just finished writing at the beginning of the film is titled "The Policeman and the Whore" - an apparent reference to their previous collaboration, Forbrydelsens element (1984), whose lead characters are a detective and a prostitute.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Lars von Trier Anecdotes (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

Tannhäuser (The Overture)

It's all about the toothpaste

Von Trier and Niels Voersel, playing themselves, are attempting to write a screenplay about an idealistic doctor who seeks the way to fight the epidemic and becomes the one who's spreading it.

This is Von Trier at his Von Trierest. It's the purest embodiment of his method of creating self-referential cinematic space, combining different narrative layers, making the movie within the movie about the movie...

So don't get fooled. This is not a horror movie, or a "kinda weird and twisted" movie. It's a sporadically funny exercise in post-modernist film-making. The best thing about it are dreamlike sequences featuring Trier as Dr. Mesmer... Overall - a bliss for Trier-lover and a plague for uninitiated.