Larsville

With the North American premiere of Manderlay just weeks away, Filmbrain thought he would revisit Dogville, which he did from the comfort of his Dallas Execu-Suite. The film was responsible for some of the fiercest critical dustups in many years, and if the word from Cannes is any indication, Manderlay is poised to set sparks flying once again between Lars' defenders and detractors. It's unfortunate that the American release of the Dogville DVD didn't contain any of the extras included on the Danish release, for nearly all of the 3+ hours of material is fascinating stuff, especially the hour-long documentary Dogville Confessions, directed by Sami Saif. Not your typical marketing fluff piece, this is an extremely up-close-and-personal look at the often tense conditions on the set of Dogville. Saif set up a wooden video confession booth on the set, and the stars were encouraged to record their own thoughts and feelings about working with Lars. Though none of them truly let loose, many of the confessions do reveal how difficult it is to work with the mad Danish genius. Most of the tension on the set seems to be between von Trier and Lauren Bacall, who clearly isn't used to working in this fashion. (Not to mention that he feels he "can't take a shit without her permission.") Lars clearly doesn't like actors all that much, and having to entertain (as he puts it), nearly twenty of them at one time is just too much for him. He hates the socialization and camaraderie that goes on, and nearly has a breakdown when trying to film the 4th of July picnic scene. On a day when Lars dismissed all but two of the actors, he is quoted as saying, "I think I just heard a lot of actors leaving. It was a wonderful sound." Saif had virtually unlimited access on the set, and his camera catches many of the uncomfortable confrontations between Lars and the actors, most notably Stellan Skarsgård and Paul Bettany, who is convinced that Idiots was a result of von Trier's first attempt at filming Dogville. A large press conference held in the middle of the shoot shows just how frazzled the entire cast had become, but it was worth it, judging by the finished product.

Also featured on the bonus disc: A handful of interviews with von Trier, including a few where he is thrown some pretty tough questions about his thoughts on America. A documentary from Danish television about Dogville at Cannes that has as much to say about the festival as it does the film. The Dogville Test: Early tests of key scenes shot with Danish actors - really interesting to see the scenes played with a Scandinavian heaviness, and the actors are quite good. A small feature on how they created the opening aerial shot of the town -- it took 152 cameras. Filmbrain can only wonder why none of these features landed on the US release. But if you're a fan of the film (and own a region-free DVD player), this release is a must-own -- it goes a long way in explaining what Lars von Trier intended with the film, as well as an opportunity to see his directorial methods.

Comments

[girish]

This sounds fascinating, I had no idea such a documentary existed. Now to convert those Danish kroner values into US$...

[Hotspur]

Did you ever see the first trailer for Dogville which used only snippets from the confession booth and nothing from the film itself?

My worry about Manderlay is that it wasn't just his detractors that panned it at Cannes, but his supporters too. But it's heartening that the NYFF liked it.

[Hotspur]

Just looked at the Manderlay website http://www.manderlaythefilm.com. Interestingly, Lauren Bacall is one of the few from the Dogville cast who came back for more!

[Jordan Hoffman]

Re: Bacall -- She's gotta work, don't she? Who else is offering her roles (other than, like, tough Granny Cop in Spy Kids 12?)

[Tribe]

A agree that Lars doesn't like his actors very much. Yet, notwithstanding that, he does manage to get some of the most powerful and powerful performances out of them that I've seen in my years of watching movies. The BFI monograph on The Idiots makes it pretty clear that Lars may have been overtly absusive to some members of his cast.

Hell, I don't think Lars likes audiences that much.

[Mikko Pihkoluoma]

I don't know if any of you saw 'The Five Obstruction', but it only reaffirmed my intuition that Lars thinks art should be a result of intense battle... Judging by his narratives, I'd also argue he has a big fixation towards extreme contrasts, contradictions/paradoxes, etc. In a lot of ways he reminds me of Kubrick: strong (narrative and visual) contrasts or "inversions", and tough relationships with actors (e.g. 'The Making of The Shinging'). (I also couldn't help but think about Barry Lyndon all the way through Dogville, especially in terms of use of voice-over narration...)

Anyway, I saw Manderlay eight days ago and loved it. Like other films of his, it's actually very complicated to express whether I actually "liked" it or not (let alone why), but over the years, I've grown to like them for that very reason.

[Mikko Pihkoluoma]

One more thing: To know more about Lars not liking his actors you should all read this rather entertainging discussion between Paul Thomas Anderson and him.

http://web.archive.org/web/20031217191450/http://www.ptanderson.com/articlesandinterviews/pdl/blackbook.htm