Lars von Trier

A musical by Lars von Trier could only be a radical deconstruction of the genre and a merciless clash between the magic of song and the brutality of social injustice. It earned the Danish provocateur the only Palme d’Or of his career and gave Björk the performance of a lifetime. — A Czech immigrant and single mother working in an American factory is gradually losing her sight. Fearing her son will inherit the same condition, she secretly puts money aside for the operation that could spare him. When a neighbour falsely accuses her of theft, the fragile balance of her life collapses. — Nominated for Best Original Song | Oscars | 2001 Best Actress (Björk) | Cannes Film Festival | 2000 Palme d'Or | Cannes Film Festival | 2000

Brecht, Trier, Kidman! Lars von Trier’s legendary collaboration with Nicole Kidman delivers a scathing critique of America, power and moral hypocrisy through a gripping, Brecht-inspired theatrical construction. One of the finest films of the 2000s. — A woman on the run reluctantly finds refuge in a small Colorado community, offering her labour in return. But when a search party arrives in town, she discovers that the residents’ support comes at a price. — Official Selection | Cannes Film Festival | 2003 Audience Award | Sofia International Film Festival | 2004

Charlotte Gainsbourg and Stellan Skarsgård star in Lars von Trier’s controversial film about sex, which is never once meant to be arousing. Its early draw was the stars’ faces grafted onto their porn doubles’ bodies in post-production, but von Trier’s cinema thrives on false leads. — A man finds a young woman lying beaten in a doorway and takes her home. Joe tells him she is a bad person and begins her story, going right back to her father, their walks in the woods and the day she lost her virginity to a boy. Soon she is recounting a bet with a friend over which of them could sleep with more strangers before the train reached the end of the line. — Nominated for Best European Actress (Charlotte Gainsbourg) | European Film Awards | 2014 Nominated for Best European Actor (Stellan Skarsgård) | European Film Awards | 2014 Nominated for EFA People's Choice Award | European Film Awards | 2014 Nominated for Best European Film | European Film Awards | 2014

The second part of Lars von Trier’s film about a nymphomaniac goes further and hits harder, and Charlotte Gainsbourg’s heroine tells it in a way that’s hard to call sexy. Antagonist, catastrophe and force of nature at once, she gives a listening Stellan Skarsgård a story about far more than sex. — Joe now has a small son and a partner. She also has appointments with K, a young sadist who agrees to tie her up and beat her but will never touch her the way she wants. At Christmas she is forced to choose between her family and K, and she chooses K. Later a gynaecologist sends her to a therapy group for sex addicts, but Joe doesn’t last there long. — Nominated for Best European Actress (Charlotte Gainsbourg) | European Film Awards | 2014 Nominated for Best European Actor (Stellan Skarsgård) | European Film Awards | 2014 Nominated for EFA People's Choice Award | European Film Awards | 2014 Nominated for Best European Film | European Film Awards | 2014

Lars von Trier’s therapist told him that depressed people stay calmer in a catastrophe. So a bride who can’t fake happiness at her own wedding has little to fear from the end of the world. Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg are two sisters watching a planet draw near in a beautiful apocalypse. — Justine and Michael arrive late to their own wedding, held at the castle where Justine’s sister Claire lives with her husband, John. All evening Justine’s boss presses her for an advertising tagline, while her divorced parents trade insults in front of the guests. Some time later, a planet no one has ever seen appears in the sky. John is sure they’re in no danger. — Best Actress (Kirsten Dunst) | Cannes Film Festival | 2011 Best Film | Danish Film Awards | 2012

Lars von Trier plunges into the dark waters of desire and religious ecstasy in search of the point where love becomes martyrdom. The result is a shockingly daring and emotionally extreme drama that questions the very notion of sainthood. Winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes. — In a strictly religious community in the Scottish Highlands, young Bess marries Jan, an oil rig worker. When he is left paralysed after an accident, he convinces her that sleeping with other men could help him recover. Bess obeys, turning her faith and devotion into an agonising ordeal that sets her on a collision course with her community’s morality. — Nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Emily Watson) | Oscars | 1997 Grand Prize of the Jury | Cannes Film Festival | 1996 Best Foreign Film | César Awards | 1997

Lars von Trier was let back into Cannes after a seven-year ban and brought chaos with him, as a hundred people walked out of the premiere while the rest applauded for several minutes. Matt Dillon plays a serial killer looking back on twelve years of his work, and both reactions make sense. — Jack wants to be an architect, and in late-1970s Washington State he has just killed for the first time. Twelve years and many bodies later, he walks a man called Verge through the whole story, one victim and one incident at a time, explaining what went through his mind at each. What he wants is for Verge to see it all as art. — Best Feature Film | Black Sea Film Festival | 2019 Jury Award of Recognition | Black Sea Film Festival | 2019 Best Director | Black Sea Film Festival | 2019 Best Cinematography | Black Sea Film Festival | 2019 Best Editing | Black Sea Film Festival | 2019 Best Actor (Matt Dillon) | Black Sea Film Festival | 2019 Nominated for Best Feature | Hamburg Film Festival | 2018