''Europa'' (known as ''Zentropa'' in North America) is a 1991

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

psychological drama Psychological drama or psychodrama is a sub-genre of drama that places emphasis on psychological elements. It often overlaps with other genres such as crime, fantasy, black comedy, and science fiction, and it is closely related with the psychologi ...

anti-war film Anti-war films may criticize armed conflicts in a general sense to illustrate that war is futile and a loss for all sides involved, while others focus on acts within a specific war, such as poison gas use or genocidal killing of civilians. There a ...

directed by

Lars von Trier Lars von Trier (''né'' Trier; 30 April 1956) is a Danish filmmaker, actor, and lyricist. Having garnered a reputation as a highly ambitious, polarizing filmmaker, he has been the subject of several controversies: Cannes, in addition to nominat ...

. It is von Trier's third theatrical feature film and the final film in his

Europa trilogy The ''Europa'' trilogy is an experimental film trilogy created by Danish writers Lars von Trier and Niels Vørsel, comprising his three feature films ''The Element of Crime'' (1984), ''Epidemic'' (1987) and ''Europa'' (1991). Each films set in ...

following ''

The Element of Crime ''The Element of Crime'' ( da, Forbrydelsens Element) is a 1984 experimental neo-noir crime film co-written and directed by Lars von Trier. It is the first feature film directed by Trier and the first installment of the director's Europa trilog ...

'' (1984) and ''

Epidemic An epidemic (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics ...

'' (1987). The film features an international ensemble cast, including Germans

Barbara Sukowa Barbara Sukowa (; born 2 February 1950) is a German actress of screen and stage and singer. She has received three German Film Awards for Best Actress, three Bavarian Film Awards, Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, Venice Film Festival ...

and

Udo Kier Udo Kierspe (born 14 October 1944), known professionally as Udo Kier, is a German actor. Known primarily as a character actor, Kier has appeared in more than 220 films in both leading and supporting roles throughout Europe and the Americas. He h ...

expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...

American

Eddie Constantine Eddie Constantine (born Edward Israël Constantinowsky; October 29, 1917 – February 25, 1993) was an American singer, actor and entertainer who spent most of his career in France. He became well-known to film audiences for his portrayal of se ...

, and Swedes

Max von Sydow Max von Sydow ( , ; born Carl Adolf von Sydow; 10 April 1929 – 8 March 2020) was a Swedish-French actor. He had a 70-year career in European and American cinema, television, and theatre, appearing in more than 150 films and several television ...

and

Ernst-Hugo Järegård Ernst-Hugo Alfred Järegård (12 December 1928 – 6 September 1998) was a Swedish actor. Biography Järegård was born in Ystad. He received his acting training at Malmö City Theatre. From 1962 he was an actor in Sweden's prominent Royal Dra ...

. This was German-born French-American

Jean-Marc Barr Jean-Marc Barr (born September 27, 1960) is a French-American film actor and director. He is best known for working on several films from Danish film director and frequent collaborator Lars von Trier since ''Europa'' (1991). Early life and edu ...

's first collaboration with von Trier. ''Europa'' was influenced by

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...

's '' Amerika'', and the title was chosen "as an echo" of that novel.

Plot

A young, idealistic American hopes to "show some kindness" to the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

people soon after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In US-occupied Germany, he takes on work as a sleeping-car conductor for the Zentropa railway network, falls in love with a ''

femme fatale A ''femme fatale'' ( or ; ), sometimes called a maneater or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype of ...

'', and becomes embroiled in a pro-

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

terrorist conspiracy.

Cast

Style

''Europa'' employs an

style of cinema, combining largely

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

visuals with occasional intrusions of

colour Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...

, having actors interact with rear-projected footage, and layering different images over one another to

surreal Surreal may refer to: *Anything related to or characteristic of Surrealism, a movement in philosophy and art * "Surreal" (song), a 2000 song by Ayumi Hamasaki * ''Surreal'' (album), an album by Man Raze *Surreal humour, a common aspect of humor ...

effect. The

voice-over Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non-Diegetic#Film sound and music, diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, th ...

narration uses an unconventional

second-person narrative Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...

imitative of a hypnotist (e.g. "On the count of ten, you will be in Europa."). The film's characters, music, dialogue, and plot are self-consciously

melodramatic A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...

and ironically imitative of

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...

conventions.

Production

The film was shot throughout Poland (

Chojna Chojna (german: Königsberg in der Neumark; csb, Czińsbarg; la, Regiomontanus Neomarchicus "King's Mountain in the New March") is a small town in northwestern Poland in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. It lies approximately south of Szcze ...

Cathedral (Marienkirche) and the Chojna Roundhouse) and in Denmark (

Nordisk Film Nordisk Film A/S (lit. "Nordic Film") is a Danish entertainment company established in 1906 in Copenhagen by filmmaker Ole Olsen. It is the fourth-oldest film studio in the world behind the Gaumont Film Company, Pathé, and Titanus ...

studios, Copenhagen and the Copenhagen Dansk Hydraulisk Institut) Von Trier's production company,

Zentropa Zentropa, or Zentropa Entertainments, is a Danish film company started in 1992 by director Lars von Trier and producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen. Zentropa is named after the train company Zentropa in the film ''Europa'' (1991), which started the colla ...

Entertainments, is named after the sinister railway network featured in this film, which is in turn named after the real-life train company

Mitropa Mitropa was a catering company best known for having managed sleeping car, sleeping and dining cars of different German railways for most of the 20th century. Founded in 1916, the name "Mitropa" is an abbreviation of ''Mitteleuropa'' (German lan ...

Reception

''Europa'' was released as ''Zentropa'' in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

to avoid confusion with ''

Europa Europa ''Europa Europa'' (german: Hitlerjunge Salomon, lit. "Hitler Youth Salomon") is a 1990 historical war drama film directed by Agnieszka Holland, and starring Marco Hofschneider, Julie Delpy, Hanns Zischler, and André Wilms. It is based on the 19 ...

'' (1990).

Critical reception

The film received largely positive reviews from critics.

Review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reports an 85% score based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10.

Accolades

The film won three awards at the

1991 Cannes Film Festival The 44th Cannes Film Festival was held from 9 to 20 May 1991. The Palme d'Or went to ''Barton Fink'' by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen. The festival opened with ''Homicide'', directed by David Mamet and closed with ''Thelma & Louise'', directed by Rid ...

(Best Artistic Contribution,

Jury Prize A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartial verdict (a finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Juries developed in England duri ...

, and Technical Grand Prize). Upon realizing that he had not won the

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

, von Trier gave the judges

the finger In Western culture, "the finger", or the middle finger (as in giving someone the (middle) finger, the bird or flipping someone off) is an obscene hand gesture. The gesture communicates moderate to extreme contempt, and is roughly equivalent i ...

and stormed out of the venue.

Home media

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...

released the film on DVD in 2008. The package contained several documentaries on the film and an

audio commentary An audio commentary is an additional audio track, usually digital, consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with a video. Commentaries can be serious or entertaining in nature, and can add informatio ...

by von Trier.

References

External links

* * * * *
''Europa: Night Train''
an essay by Howard Hampton at the

Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...