The Idiots

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This article is about the Danish movie. For the band, see The Idiots (band).

The Idiots
German movie poster
Directed by	Lars von Trier
Produced by	Vibeke Windeløv
Written by	Lars von Trier
Starring	Bodil Jørgensen, Jens Albinus, Anne Louise Hassing, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Troels Lyby, Luis Mesonero, Louise Mieritz, Henrik Prip, Knud Romer Jørgensen, Trine Michelsen, Anne-Grethe Bjarup Riis, Paprika Steen
Release date(s)	20 May 1998 (Cannes Film Festival)
Running time	117 min.
Language	Danish
IMDb profile

The Idiots (Danish: Idioterne) is a 1998 Danish film directed by Lars von Trier. It is his first film made in compliance with the Dogme '95 Manifesto, and it is known as Dogme #2.

The film is about a seemingly 'anti-bourgeois' group of adults who spend their time seeking their "inner idiot" to release their inhibitions by behaving in an approximation of mentally retarded in public. This 'spassing' is a self-defeating attempt to challenge the establishment through provocation. The Idiots feel that the society-at-large treats their intelligence uncreatively and unchallengingly; thus, they seek the uninhibited self-expression that they imagine a romantic ideal of disability will allow.

The film is notorious for featuring scenes of uncensored and unsimulated penetrative sexual intercourse. It was a major challenge to the censors, especially in Britain where new leadership at the BBFC eventually passed the film as part of government legislation to legalise the sale of hardcore pornography. Other explicit narrative films released uncensored include Baise Moi, Seul contre tous, and Romance.

The film provoked a storm of publicity and debates about civil rights and disability, politics and representation. Yet The Idiots was often well received by disability groups, many of whom felt it exposed underlying social prejudices against disability.

The Idiots is the second film in von Trier's Golden Heart Trilogy which includes Breaking the Waves (1996) and Dancer in the Dark (2000).

Tagline 1: You're a whole lot dumber than you think.

Tagline 2: A film by idiots, about idiots, for idiots.

1 Plot summary
2 Awards
3 Confession
4 Banned/Shown
5 External links

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

A group of adults lives in a large house in Denmark and spends most of their time pretending to be mentally retarded in public as a means of finding their "inner idiot". They are met by Karen (Bodil Jørgensen) who at first accidentally and then purposefully falls in with them.

[edit] Awards

Bodil Awards (1999)
- Won: Best Actress, Bodil Jørgensen
- Won: Best Supporting Actor, Nikolaj Lie Kaas
- Won: Best Supporting Actress, Anne Louise Hassing
- Nominated: Best Film
Cannes Film Festival (1998)
- Nominated: Golden Palm
European Film Awards (1998)
- Nominated: European Film Award, Best Screenwriter
London Film Festival (1998)
- Won: FIPRESCI Prize, Lars von Trier
Robert Festival (1999)
- Won: Best Actress, Bodil Jørgensen
Valladolid International Film Festival (1998)
- Nominated: Golden Spike, Lars von Trier

[edit] Confession

The confession of a Dogme 95 film is an idea adapted by Thomas Vinterberg in the first Dogme 95 film: Make a confession if there were things happening on the shoot which are not in accordance with the strict interpretation of the Dogme 95 rules. It is written from the director's point of view. Accordingly, Lars von Trier made the following confession^{[citation needed]}:

In relation to the production of Dogme 2 "The Idiots", I confess:

To have used a stand-in in one case only (the sexual intercourse scene).
To have organized payment of cash to the actors for shopping of accessories (food).
To have intervened with the location (by moving sources of light — candlelight — to achieve exposure).
To have been aware of the fact that the production had entered into an agreement of leasing a car (without the knowledge of the involved actor).

All in all, and apart from the above, I feel to have lived up to the intentions and rules of the manifesto: Dogme95.

[edit] Banned/Shown

Due to its explicit sexual content in the sexual intercourse scene, the film was banned in Ireland. It is an adult-only movie in Argentina, Australia (though it has been shown uncut on TV with an MA rating), Chile, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Spain, the United States, and the UK. In Switzerland and Germany, the movie ran uncut with a 16-years rating in the theaters, but for TV broadcast the orgy is omitted.

In the UK it was shown, including the controversial orgy and sexual intercourse scenes, on a national television channel, Channel 4, in (2004?), during a season known as "Taboo".