Lars von Trier's Europa Trilogy, No Longer an Essential Import

Okay, Crime Week was fun, but I did dip into a lot of common, mainstream DVD and blu-ray releases.  And while I do think there's a place for that here, and I'll surely do it more in the future, I also don't want to neglect, yaknow, the DVD exotica: cult, rare and off-the-beaten-path stuff, including lesser known imports that are actually far superior to their common, domestic counterparts.  DVDs that are still essential in the age of blu-rays and UHDs.  And to that end, I have this sweet German boxset of three of Lars von Trier's earliest films, collectively known as his Europa Trilogy.  It beat the pants off everything else that had ever been released in the states or anywhere else in the world at the time.  And despite being DVD-only, it still does.  Well, mostly.

Update 4/15/20 - 8/23/24: It's Day 6 of Update Week 2024, and this trilogy has gone from "Still an Essential Import" to "No Longer an Essential Import" thanks to Criterion's 3-disc blu-ray set from 2023.  And I've also added another DVD edition to our Monty Python's Meaning of Life page.

The Element of Crime is Trier's first feature film, from 1984, that really put him on the map as a celebrated filmmaker to watch.  It won awards at Cannes and various other festivals, but I'll be honest, I'm not its hugest fan.  It's a very visually stylish presentation of what I would call a very soulless police procedural, where a world weary flashes back to the time he was on the hunt for a serial killer who goes after young girls.  His only allies are a prostitute and his grizzled chief who suggests that in order to catch the criminal, he must think like the criminal, and really, it's like Trier took the screenplay out of a dusty old box of used Hollywood scripts just to have something to hang his imagery on.  He shot the film with sodium lights, which gives it an overbearing sepia look, and designs his vague European setting like a dark, industrial fantasy.  I've always gotten the sense that he never had any interest in the story; this is just something he created as a calling card to show he can craft a stylish looking film and find future work.

And while the look is technically impressive, even that starts to feel arbitrary pretty fast.  For me, this is a real throwback to the days when people were excited to see all the wild and kooky foreign films by directors like Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Pitof.  Then they came to Hollywood and applied their stylings to films like Alien 4 and Catwoman and we started to realize that maybe the emperors were wearing some pretty dumb clothes.  Thankfully, Trier went in a different direction, and created intriguing works of psychological substance.  But this one, in both the good and the bad senses, is like his City of Lost Children or Vidoq - interesting to look at in small doses, evincing some actual talent and a lot of care invested by the filmmakers, but still probably best left in the 90s.  A quick taste, like watching the trailer, is promising, but ultimately sitting through the entire feature is just a chore.

Element debuted on DVD right here in the US (with the possible exception of an obscure Spanish DVD, which may or may not've come out first) through the Criterion Collection in 2000.  It's the edition many of you probably still own, since this film has yet to be released on blu anywhere in the world.  But I've happily given it up for the fancy, special edition boxed set released by Zentropa Entertainment itself.  Essentially identical copies of this set were released in various European regions, like Denmark and Finland... I opted for the 2005 German set distributed by Legend Home Entertainment just because it came out first.  Though now, of course, I've got an even newer edition in HD thanks to Criterion's 3-disc Europe Trilogy box set.

1) 2000 US Criterion DVD; 2) 2005 DE Zentropa DVD; 3) 2023 US Criterion BD.

Both discs present the film in roughly 1.85:1.  Criterion's DVD is more like 1.81:1 and trims a little along the edges.  Their BD is 1.90:1 and puts that trimmed stuff back.  But they're all reasonably close.  The DVDs are both also dark and murky DVDs. Criterion's DVD is a little darker and it's colors are a tad deeper, but that often just makes it harder to make out what we're supposed to be looking at.  I will give that Criterion one thing: it hangs onto more information in the bright areas.  Zentropa's edition is generally brighter and more contrasty, which flares out the brightest areas, losing information in the headlights and electric lamps above.  I generally appreciate Zentropa's boost in gamma just because it adds a little extra definition.  But flaring is just the indelicate-type of consequence one usually praises UHDs for, so I have to say, in those select areas of the screen, I do actually prefer Criterion's results.  In the shadowy parts, I prefer Zentropa.  In the end, it was more or less an underwhelming tie.

ltr: 2000 US Criterion DVD, 2005 DE Zentropa DVD, 2023 US Criterion BD.

They're both left in the dust by the new blu.  Look at this close-up; that lettering is so much more accurate now.  Both DVDs are plagued by sloppy smudge that the blu neatly tidies up.  This film was shot on film, and Criterion has gone back to the original camera negatives with a fresh 3k scan that takes the film to a whole new playing field.  And it's brightened up to the point where you can actually make out everything that's going on, though you still lose some info in the highlights, like in those same lamps.  That's an awfully small price to pay for those massive gains.

Originally, Zentropa took a little more of a lead in the audio department.  The Criterion DVD offers us the original English 2.0 track, with optional English subtitles, while Zentropa has the 2.0 and a 5.1 remix, with optional English, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Norwegian, Romanian and Swedish subs.  Now the blu whittles that back down to just the original English track with optional English subs, but now that audio is in lossless LPCM.

Nocturne

And now here's where Zentropa really peels away and leaves Criterion coughing in their dust.  Criterion has one extra besides the trailer: a roughly 50 minute documentary on Trier called Tranceformer.  If that sounds familiar, that's because it's been around the block.  I already wrote about it being included as an extra on The Kingdom, and it's been included as an extra elsewhere, like Umbrella's 3-disc Trier collection.  If you don't already have it, it's a good doc and definitely one you'll want to have in your collection.  But for most of us Trier fans, by then it was likely a duplicate feature.  Still, it's a welcome inclusion, and what's more, the Zentropa set hasn't got it.

But oh boy, what it does have.  How about two audio commentaries, for starters?  One by Trier along with cinematographer Tom Elling and editor Tomas Gislason, and another with two critics.  Then it's got its own, exclusive half-hour doc on Trier, and a nice, 20-minute retrospective on Element itself.  The one problem? The English subtitles are messed up on this featurette (and they're not speaking English), playing German subs even when you select English.  Everything else in this set is English friendly; it's just a glitch on this one featurette.

Anyway, it's also got Nocturne, an early (1980) short film by Trier with optional commentary and commentary outtakes.  Plus the trailer and a 16-page booklet.  And that's just this disc.  Besides discs 2 and 3 for the other two films that are also packed with features, there's a fourth disc full of documentaries and interviews.  I'll be delving into it all below, but I'll just briefly state here that this is a packed special edition, and the only proper special edition Element's ever gotten.

Next up is 1987's Epidemic.  If you've already spent the last couple weeks in lockdown working your way through Contagion, Outbreak, Cassandra's Crossing and every other pandemic-related film, you'll want to be sure you didn't miss this one.  I still wouldn't rank it among Trier's best work, but at least now I care about his characters and the unfolding plot in addition to the director's superficial stylizations.  Here Trier essentially plays himself as a screenwriter, who writes with a partner to make a tight deadline.  The film they write is about a doctor struggling against a modern plague, and we quickly enter that story within a story, where Trier also plays the doctor and Udo Kier appears.  The two "worlds" blend into each other, becoming one bleak overall reality and it's all a heck of a lot more engrossing than Element.

Home Vision released Epidemic on DVD in the states first in 2004.  In fact, Nocturne was also included on this release as a bonus.  And this time around, it really is more of a proper special edition.  Still, Zentropa's edition has even more stuff.  And it's since been bumped up to HD with Criterion's 2023 BD.

1) 2004 US HVE DVD; 2) 2005 DE Zentropa DVD; 3) 2023 US Criterion BD.

Epidemic was shot partly in 16mm and partly in 35mm, so the picture quality jumps around.  It's more noticeable in  HD, since the DVD softens things down to a bit more of an even playing field.  In the shots above, the first set is from 35 and the second is 16.  Both DVDs present the film in a pillarboxed 1.63:1 ratio with mostly very similar framing, except in the case of the 16mm stuff.  You can see in the second set of shots that the Zentropa is zoomed in losing information around all four edges.  Another distinction: the film is entirely in black and white except for a large, red watermark that appears through almost the entire film.  But as you can see above, the hue differs between the two discs, at some times looking cooler on the HVE disc, and other times looking warmer.

The new is truer black and white throughout and framed 1.78:1 for the 35 stuff, revealing more on the sides and making the mattes just slightly tighter.  And it's back 1.66 for the 16mm footage, restore the info Zentropa had cropped out.  It's also true black and white, as opposed to HVE's alternating tints.  Most importantly, it's another new 3k scan of the original negatives.  Now their booklet just says "the original 16mm camera negatives," but the 35 footage doesn't look like it was blown down (so to speak) to 16, so that might just be an over simplification on Criterion's part.  At any rate, it's a much clearer image, especially in the 35 areas, with much cleaner lines and fine detail.  In comparison, it looks like the DVDs have light edge enhancement, though that may just be a compression issue.  Anyway, it's all right on the blu.

In terms of audio, it's almost the same story all over again, except in this case, HVE doesn't offer any subtitles at all, while Zentropa has the nine language options.  And again, Zentropa adds the additional 5.1 mix in addition to the 2.0, while Criterion just gives us the original lossless audio and English subs.

Images Of a Relief

Like I said, though, this time HVE's disc is more of a proper special edition.  Besides Nocturne, it includes an Epidemic commentary by Trier and his co-writer and co-star Niels Vørsel.  Oh and they have the Nocturne commentary, too.  And it also includes the 2000 documentary about Trier, FreeDogme.  As you can guess from the title, it's about his dogme project(s) rather than Epidemic, and while this Zentropa set doesn't include it, it can be found on their Dogme '95 boxed set where it's a little more fitting.  Zentropa has the same commentary, plus another exclusive retrospective featurette about Epidemic, where they interview the cast and crew.  And this time it has another early Trier film as a bonus: 1982's Images Of a Relief.  Oh, and both discs have the trailer.  So while HVE's release is a little more competitive in the features department than Criterion's, once again, Zentropa is the one to own.  Especially considering the whole fourth disc we haven't gotten to yet.

The final film is 1991's Europa, a.k.a. Zentropa.  Yes, Trier's company was named after this film, which I'll keep referring to as strictly Europa, just so things don't get confusing.  With it's fascinating use of rear projection blending color and black & white footage, it's as stylish and experimental as any of the films in this trilogy.  But it's also the most conventional, in the sense that its tense thriller plotting means it's the only one of the three that can even win over general audiences who don't typically care for "art" films.   An American soldier versus evil Nazis on a train!  What more can you want?  An all-star cast?  Okay, this time around, Trier's brought in Eddie Constantine, narrator Max von Sydow, The Kingdom's Ernst-Hugo Järegård and another perfect turn by Udo Kier.

Now, it used to be that the only way to own Europa was a barebones Tartan disc from the UK.  I no longer have it for this review since I got rid of it long ago, because it's been easily bettered both by Zentropa's boxed set and a 2008 Criterion 2-DVD set, then of course again by Criterion's 2023 BD.

1) 2005 DE Zentropa DVD; 2) 2009 US Criterion DVD; 3) 2023 US Criterion BD.

In terms of the DVDs' PQ, again, there are differences, but overall, it's a pretty close call.  Zentropa mattes the picture a little tighter at 2.38:1, as opposed to Criterion's 2.33, which also has more on the left.  And as you can see, there are clear differences in the colors... during the portions where there are colors.  Zentropa's also a little more contrast heavy in the black and white sections.  It's another no-strong-preference situation, made utterly academic by the new blu.  It essentially has the Zentropa framing at 2.39:1, with colors and contrast that feel like the happy medium between the two previous DVDs.  And the HD image is just decidedly sharper and clearer.  Just look at those sideburns in the second set of shots; they tell you need to know.

Audio?  Yeah, you know the story by know, with Zentropa adding the extra 5.1 and all the subtitles, though Criterion's DVD does have English subs again.  And while the original audio track has a mix of languages spoken in it, and it's the same on both discs, Zentropa also has an additional all-German dub if you want to give that a whirl.  But only the new blu has lossless audio.

The Making of Europa

There's no bonus film from Trier's early works this time around, but both releases include more about Europa itself.  Zentropa has an audio commentary by Trier and producer Peter Aalbaek Jensen, plus a second, partial (one of those ones where it's only over select scenes) by Trier with actor Jean-Marc Barr and Udo Kier.  There's another retrospective featurette and a longer 'making of' documentary.  Plus there's the trailer.

Criterion has most of the same stuff, including the main commentary, the featurette, the trailer, and the 'making of' doc.  It doesn't have the second partial commentary with Barr and Kier, though.  But it has some more stuff, specifically a 45-minute documentary called Trier’s Element, a featurette on Trier as observed by his friends and collaborators, and a unique one on Europa's locations.  Then there are on-camera interviews with cinematographer Henning Bendtsen, composer Joachim Holbek and a lengthy one (43 minutes!) with Trier himself.

Emily Watson in Im Laboratorium Deas Doktors Von Trier

But if that sounds like Criterion has scored a bunch of exclusives, we must remember that fourth disc!  That Trier's Element documentary?  That's on there, as are both featurettes and the Bendtsen, Holbek  and Trier interviews.  In short, everything.  And the Zentropa disc has still more!  There's another half hour doc called Portrait of Lars Von Trier, which seems to have been made for Danish television and the short One Day with Peter, about producer Peter Jensen, which is actually from the Filmbyen DVD, and a hour+ doc titled Im Laboratorium Deas Doktors Von Trier, which takes us from his early short films through The Idiots.  And finally there's an on-camera interview with Tom Elling about Element of Crime.  Oh, and there's a trailer reel for every Trier film that had been made up to that point.

 

So yeah, the Zentropa set was downright overloaded with exclusives, plus all the extras featured on any other edition.  The only exceptions are the Tranceformer and FreeDogme documentaries, which are otherwise available on other Trier releases.  In 2020 I wrote, "one wonders why there aren't blu-ray alternatives that've come to take this set's crown."  Well, Criterion has, and they've included almost all the extras from these Zentropa sets in their Europe Trilogy box set, including Tranceformer.  But, disappointingly, they didn't seem to have room for Im Laboratorium Deas Doktors Von Trier or Nocturne.  But on the other hand, they fixed the missing subtitles issue on that Element of Crime featurette, which is a nice win.  They didn't create any new extras, but the ones from their 2009 Europa DVD are still here, and they've included an attractive, 26-page booklet.  Anyway, with the boost to HD it's the obvious win, but if you've got to the Zentropa, hang onto it for those remaining three exclusive extras.  For everything else, watch the blus.