Europa - Criterion Collection (1991)

You will now listen to my voice . . . On the count of ten you will be in Europa . . ." So begins Max von Sydow s opening narration to Lars von Trier s hypnotic Europa (known in the U.S. as Zentropa), a fever dream in which American pacifist Leopold Kessler (Jean-Marc Barr) stumbles into a job as a sleeping-car conductor for the Zentropa railways in a Kafkaesque 1945 postwar Frankfurt. With its gorgeous black-and-white and color imagery and meticulously recreated (if then nightmarishly deconstructed) costumes and sets, Europa is one of the great Danish filmmaker s weirdest and most wonderful works, a runaway train ride to an oddly futuristic past.

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES:
New, restored high-definition digital transfer
Audio commentary featuring director Lars von Trier and producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen (in Danish)
The Making of Europa (1991), a documentary following the film from storyboarding to production
Trier s Element (1991), a documentary featuring an interview with von Trier, and footage from the set and Europa s Cannes premiere and press conference
Anecdotes from Europa (2005), a short documentary featuring interviews with film historian Peter Schepelern, actor Jean-Marc Barr, producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen, assistant director Tómas Gislason, co-writer Niels Vørsel, and prop master Peter Grant
2005 interviews with cinematographer Henning Bendtsen, composer Joachim Holbek, costume designer Manon Rasmussen, film-school teacher Mogens Rukov, editor/director Tómas Gislason, producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen, art director Peter Grant, actor Michael Simpson, production manager Per Arman, actor Ole Ernst
A conversation with Lars von Trier from 2005, in which the director speaks about the Europa trilogy
Europa The Faecal Location (2005), a short film by Gislason
New and improved English subtitle translation
PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Howard Hampton Product Description

Von Trier's Weird Nightmare on the Zentropa Railway.

"You will now listen to my voice . . . On the count of ten you will be in Europa."

While perhaps best known for his Dogme 95 films Breaking the Waves (1996), The Idiots (Idioterne) (1998), and Dancer in the Dark (2000), Academy Award-nominated Danish film director, Lars von Trier, is also celebrated for his "Europe trilogy" of films: The Element of Crime (Forbrydelsens element) (1984), Epidemic (1987), and Europa (1991) (originally released as Zentropa in the U.S. to avoid marketing confusion with the film Europa Europa). Featuring an international ensemble cast including Jean-Marc Barr, Fassbinder protégés Barbara Sukowa (Berlin Alexanderplatz) and Udo Kier, expatriate American, Eddie Constantine, Max von Sydow and Ernst-Hugo Järegård, Europa tells the surreal story of an American pacifist, Leopold Kessler (Barr), determined to "show some kindness" to the German people after WWII. Kessler finds work as a sleeping car conductor for the Zentropa railway network in 1945 postwar Frankfurt, falls in love with the railway magnate's daughter, and soon becomes entangled in a pro-Nazi terrorist conspiracy. What makes Europa such a unique experience in film is von Trier's use of crisp black-and-white visuals combined with occasional uses of color, a technique later used in Schindler's List, and the actors' interactions with rear-projected footage. These techniques give Europa a truly weird, nightmare-like quality.

The Criterion edition of Europa features a newly restored high-definition digital transfer; audio commentary featuring director Lars von Trier and producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen (in Danish, with English subtitles); "The Making of Europa" (1991), a documentary following the film from storyboarding to production; "Trier's Element" (1991), a documentary featuring an interview with von Trier, and footage from the set and Europa's Cannes premiere and press conference; "Anecdotes from Europa" (2005), a short documentary featuring interviews with film historian Peter Schepelern, actor Jean-Marc Barr, producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen, assistant director Tómas Gislason, co-writer Niels Vørsel, and prop master Peter Grant; 2005 interviews with cinematographer Henning Bendtsen, composer Joachim Holbek, costume designer Manon Rasmussen, film-school teacher Mogens Rukov, editor/director Tómas Gislason, producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen, art director Peter Grant, actor Michael Simpson, production manager Per Arman, actor Ole Ernst; a conversation with Lars von Trier from 2005, in which the director speaks about the "Europa" trilogy; "Europa--The Faecal Location" (2005), a short film by Gislason; and a booklet featuring a new essay by critic Howard Hampton. Highly recommended.

G. Merritt
October 25, 2008

Thank You Criterion!!!

I wrote a review on IMDB of some Criterion DVD that certainly didn't deserve the Criterion treatment, asking "How on earth could they release a Criterion disc of the Bruce Willis movie "Armageddon" before they put Zentropa (and others; Magnificent Ambersons... ahem!) out?" My prayers have been answered.

I will start building my shrine to this DVD now, so it's ready for December. ha ha... No, it's not the greatest movie ever made, and its pacing is quite ponderous. It's also one of the most technically inventive & astonishing pieces of work I've ever seen. I can now replace my well-worn Korean bootleg (which lacks translations of the German sequences) with this DVD. It's Christmas in October, and then eventually on December 8th.

happy happy happy!!! October 13, 2008

Finally released in America.

This is finally being released in the U.S. and I couldn't be more elated! All I've had of this movie up till now has been a R3 version ( Which DID carry it's original title "Europa" but my computer will only play a limited number of times). I'm even happier still that it's getting "the Criterion treatment". This is von Trier's trippiest experiment. If you liked "The Kingdom" this is that on a train - Okay, maybe not. Ya' just gotta' see it. Trier never did anything before or after like this movie. Maybe that's why he developed the Dogma'95 philosophy after this, he just couldn't top it. This is a great look back at the pinnacle of his early work, and I'm really glad it's coming out in a great editionThe Kingdom - Series One and Two October 5, 2008

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