Europa (1991)

Director:

Lars von Trier

Writers:

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

Release Date:

27 June 1991 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

Just after WW2, an American takes a railway job in Germany, but finds his position politically sensitive with various people trying to use him.

Plot Keywords:

American | Germany | Sleeping Car | Train | Uncle

Awards:

16 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Jean-Marc Barr	...	Leopold Kessler
Barbara Sukowa	...	Katharina Hartmann
Udo Kier	...	Lawrence Hartmann
Ernst-Hugo Järegård	...	Uncle Kessler
Erik Mørk	...	Pater
Jørgen Reenberg	...	Max Hartmann
Henning Jensen	...	Siggy
Eddie Constantine	...	Colonel Harris
Max von Sydow	...	Narrator (voice)
Benny Poulsen	...	Steleman
Erno Müller	...	Seifert
Dietrich Kuhlbrodt	...	Inspector
Michael Phillip Simpson	...	Robins
Holger Perfort	...	Mr. Ravenstein
Anne Werner Thomsen	...	Mrs. Ravenstein

Also Known As:

Europa (Sweden)
Zentropa
Europa (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
Europa (Finland) [fi]
Europa (Greece) [el]
Evropa (Slovenia) [sl]

MPAA:

Rated R for mature treatment of holocaust issues.

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

Denmark | Sweden | France | Germany | Switzerland

Language:

English | German

Color:

Black and White | Color (Pathécolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

New Zealand:M | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | Italy:T | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:18 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Chojna Cathedral, Chojna, Poland

Company:

Alicéléo

Trivia:

The final film in Lars von Trier's 'Europa' trilogy which illuminates the traumas of Europe in the future. The two other parts are Forbrydelsens element (1984) and Epidemic (1987).

Quotes:

[opening lines]
Narrator: You will now listen to my voice. My voice will help you and guide you still deeper into Europa. Every time you hear my voice, with every word and every number, you will enter into a still deeper layer, open, relaxed and receptive. I shall now count from one to ten...

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Making of 'Europa' (1991) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Europa Aria

As multipurpose at a Swiss Army knife

Von Trier has created a film that is a noir satire, a joke on psychotherapy, the last great hurrah for back-projection in movies (even tops "The Nasty Girl" in that depatment), a historical hoax, a satire of the Prussian work ethic, a satire of noir romances, and an indirect indictment on the firms which profited off twelve years of Hiterite insanity. The train is Germany, with Ernst-Hugo Jaregard and Jean Marc-Bar decked out as its' SS and military (notice the tunic design, the collar patch piping, the peaked caps, the fact that it's all black.) The Werewolves are taken from Reichspropagandaminister Goerbbles' last hat trick, that the Reich gov't. was prepping an army of saboteurs in 1944-45 to make occupation a misery. The Zentropa firm is a combination of the steel kingpin Krupp (which used slave labor at Auschwitz), and Deutche Reichsbahn (the state railway firm which sent so many to their deaths), along with others like Ford, who profited from Axis and Allied war efforts. Hence the burial sequence is doubly ironic; the Nazi war profiteer getting last rites in a ruined cattle car that was probably resposible for the oblivion of hundreds. The film leaves you with the suspicion that Nazism was an extreme expression of the German national psychology of sado-masochism and that 46 years later Hitler's shadow still stalked Europa (the cathedral scene was shot in an actual Polish cathedral which had been left roofless by the Communist Polish gov't.) I will say no more, but I do love the "Europa Aria" over the final credits. That song says more then I possibly could.