Thirty years back, the film world was shaken up considerably with the publication of the Dogma 95 manifesto by Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg. Everything had to change, everything had to be more real.
On this evening, the editors of LA RIOT take a closer look at the impact this manifesto has had. Important question here: has that impact been lasting? In other words: do we see the influence of Dogma 95 in today's films?
Following this introduction, given in English, Lars von Trier's high-profile and controversial The Idiots is on the programme. When that is over, it is time for a small party.
The Idiots
Karen, a middle-aged woman, is sitting by herself in a restaurant when she sees two apparently mentally handicapped boys. Those boys behave so annoyingly that the restaurant manager asks their supervisor to leave. One of those boys grabs Karen's hand and won't let go - Karen joins the boys in a cab. There she discovers that the boys' disabilities have been played. They turn out to be part of an anti-bourgeois residential community, made up of people who want to free their “inner idiot,” as house ideologue Stoffer describes it. He goes very far in this, too far according to some group members. But Karen, who initially followed the group with some reservation, is willing to go further.
This curious mix of drama and black humor is the second film made according to the rules of the Dogma manifesto. Director Lars von Trier preferred that the actors themselves play the explicit sex scenes, but they didn't want to. Against Dogma rules, he hired professional porn actors as body doubles to play those scenes.
