|
The Five
Obstructions (326)
- current
(please delete Time of the Wolf)
- a-z as F
(Five) and F (Fem)
- page : fiveobstructions.html
LINKS
THE FIVE
OBSTRUCTIONS 6/10
De fem benspaend
: Denmark (Den/Switz/Bel/Fr) 2003 : Jorgen LETH and Lars von TRIER
: 90 mins
Though barely
known over here, Leth’s mock-anthropological short The
Perfect Human (1967) has many admirers in his native Denmark,
including Lars
(“Boom Boom”) von Trier - who claims to have seen it twenty times
(translation: he’s seen it maybe once).
One idle day
in his busy schedule (in between trying to edit sense into Dogville
and/or ‘preparing’ for his looming 2006 Bayreuth
debacle) von Trier thought it would be jolly fun to ask his “hero”
if he’d mind remaking The Perfect Human five times as “therapy”.
On each occasion Leth
was faced with certain ‘obstructions’ stipulated by von Trier. Starting
– with - an – edict - that - Leth - could - only - use - 12 - frames
- per – shot - and – that – he – must - shoot - in - Cuba.
This resulting
feature (a four-nation
coproduction, no less!) consists of: (1) tantalising clips from the
original version. (2) Even more tantalising clipse from the five ‘remakes’.
(3) Not-so-tantalising extracts from the filming process (we spend an
eternity following Leth when he gets lost in a hotel). (4) Even less tantalising
playful/needling/mutual-appreciation-society
conversations between L.v.T and J.L.
Though undeniably
(and commendably) unlike anything else we’ll see on general release this
year, Five Obstructions is seldom anywhere near as much fun
as it should be. In “artistic”/creative terms, meanwhile, seeing only
brief fragments from the six different Perfect Humans means we’re
unable to judge Leth’s ‘success’ or ‘failure’. It’s no coincidence that
the Cuba/12 frames version – which we see most of - is also the most effective/entertaining/clever.
As ever with
anything von Trier-related, however, the overriding impression that is
the audience
is supposedly being invited into - but in fact being firmly excluded from
- some hilarious pseudo-intellectual,
utterly pointless, post-modern private joke. Actually, not quite pointless.
Thanks to The Five Obstructions, viewers will now be aware that
it isn’t done to serve caviar using metal cutlery: what you need, apparently,
is a bone
spoon. Cheers, Lars.
Neil Young
25th December,
2003 (seen on VHS, Sunderland, 23rd December 2003 - 3rd January 2004)
PS - the last
shot is fantastic
by Neil
Young
-
|
