Europa trilogy: Europa (Zentropa)
Line up: Lars von Trier | 1991 | Denmark, France, Germany, Sweden | 113’ | EN subtitles

The now rarely screened Europa trilogy was a major breakthrough for cult Danish director Lars von Trier. It moves between expressionism, surrealism, and avant-garde formalism; the trilogy constructs a dreamlike, often nightmarish vision of a continent haunted by its own history. Those films portray the European continent as an entity that lacks coherent cultural identity and is built on unresolved generational traumas as well as obsolete ideologies.

Europa, the final part of this triptych of moving images, is the most recognisable one in the oeuvre of the director. The film tells the story of the naive American of German descent who comes to the home of his descendants shortly after the end of the war. His desire is to help rebuild the destroyed city of Frankfurt. In the meantime, drawn into the love affair, his morals are put to the test.

This screening is a part of our programme dedicated to Lars von Trier’s Europa trilogy. Please see the full programme below:

07/11 | The Element of Crime (1984)
11/11 | Epidemic (1987)
18/11 | Europa (1991)


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