The Element of Crime
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The Element of Crime (Danish: Forbrydelsens element) is the first feature film directed by noted Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier. The film, released in 1984, was also the first in the director's Europa trilogy.
Synopsis
The Element of Crime is a dystopian story about an English detective named Fisher (Michael Elphick) who has become an expatriate living in Cairo. Fisher undergoes hypnosis in order to recall his last case, in which he pursued an elusive killer called the "Lotto Murderer", who brutally savaged young girls selling lottery tickets. Fisher had attempted to track down the killer using the controversial methods outlined in a book titled The Element of Crime, written by his disgraced mentor, Osborne (Esmond Knight). Fisher is joined in his search by a prostitute named Kim (Meme Lai). Fisher's search is based on tailing reports written by Osborne when he was trying to track down a murderer who killed in the same way as the "Lotto Murderer".Style and Themes
There are a number of visual motifs and repeated themes that distinguish the film.
- The film noir conventions of (almost) monochrome footage and constant night is mirrored by the equally ubiquitous presence of water. The film is shot in sepia tone which is occasionally shockingly contrasted with piercing blues or greens. The yellowish colour tones were created by shooting the scenes in very powerful sodium light which erased all colours except yellow. The film's pace, dark atmosphere and occasionally surreal imagery give it a dreamlike quality.
- Much of both the dialogue and cinematography is poetic and contradictory or impossible. An example of this occurs in a conversation between Fisher and his mentor's housekeeper. Fisher: “Is it always as dark as this at this time of year?" Housekeeper: “There are no seasons any more. The last three summers haven't been summers. The weather changes all the time. It never alters." Incidentally, there are a number of points where, as here, the script appears to mildly poke fun at the stylistic conventions employed within the film.
- Disordered collections of similar or identical object are found in many of the scenes, reinforcing the sense of a crumbling and arcane cultural edifice. Examples include heaps of keys, surgical scissors, bottles, rubber stamps and Coca-Cola cans.
- A shot at the film's opening of a horse lying on its back and then slowly struggling to stand appears to be an homage to a similar shot in Andrei Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev. von Trier has never tried to hide his admiration for Tarkovsky, but The Element of Crime may very well be the film in which this admiration was most clear.
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