Idioterne

Idioterne (English: The Idiots), a 1998 film directed by Lars von Trier. It is von Trier's first film made in compliance with the Dogme '95 Manifesto, and is Dogme #2.

The film is about an anti-bourgeois group of adults who spend their time seeking their "inner idiot", by releasing their inhabitions and behaving as mentally retarded in public - hence challenging the establishment. They feel that society-at-large treats their intelligence uncreatively and unchallengingly - they seek humiliation and degredation.

"The Idiots" is the second film in Von Trier's "Golden Heart Trilogy" which includes "Breaking the Waves" (1996) and "Dancer in the Dark" (2000).

Synopsis

The Idiots is about a group of young people who share one interest: idiocy. With a large house as their base, they spend all their spare time together exploring the hidden and less appreciated values of idiocy. They practise! The project is a manifestation of an explosive appetite for life in which they confront society with their idiocy. Nothing can be compared to the mutual feeling of success, every time their personal limits are transcended in yet another scenario.

By accident Karen meets 3 members of the group and unintentionally she gets involved in their little game. She gradually understands what they are up to, and at first she is angry, but eventually she begins to participate in their diversions.

Karen is different from the idiots. She is from a segment of society that hasn’t got time to theorise over life and its qualities. She has been drifting aimlessly, and conceals a sadness that comes to the surface every now and then, but with the idiots she finds solace and understanding without prying questions. Soon she’s drawn by the group’s satanic games. She’s attracted by their joy. And she becomes one of them.

For Axel, one of the members, family life and work become more and more difficult, because the idiots keep terrorising his everyday life. For fun at first, but suddenly it isn’t funny anymore. Axel isn’t the only one to leave as the idiocy escalates, but the departures only strengthen the group’s solidarity. Most stay; they want to live out the excessive feelings, the aggression, the curiosity and the uncontrolled, egotistical primitive sexuality.

It is as a measure of the heights they scale that Stoffer suggests that they formalise the group’s solidarity. Everybody has to undergo the ultimate test. A test that must be undergone at home, in front of their nearest and dearest, and which will separate the sheep from the goats. Only the seven strongest remain. Karen is the last one of the group to undergo the test.

Confession

The confession of a Dogme 95 film is an idea adapted by Thomas Vinterberg in the first Dogme 95 film: Make a confession if there are things happening that are not in accordance with the strict interpretation of the Dogme-rules. It is written in the director's point of view.

In relation to the production of Dogme 2 "The Idiots", I confess:

• To have used a stand-in in one case only (the sexual intercourse scene).
• To have organised payment of cash to the actors for shopping of accessories (food).
• To have intervened with the location ( by moving sources of light -candlelight - to achieve exposure).
• To have been aware of the fact that the production had entered into an agreement of leasing a car (without the knowledge of the involved actor).

All in all, apart from the above, I feel to have lived up to the intentions and rules of the manifesto: Dogme95.