Babette's Feast

Based on the short story by Karen Blixen under the Isak Dinesen pseudonym, Babette’s Feast is the story of a housekeeper who decides to create a feast for religious villagers in late 19th Century Denmark. Written for the screen and directed by Gabriel Axel, the film is a look into a woman with a mysterious past that decides to take action in the hopes of bringing people together to celebrate the 100th birthday of their late yet beloved pastor. Starring Stephane Audran, Birgitte Federspiel, Bodil Kjer, and narration by Ghita Norby. Babette’s Feast is an evocative and enchanting film from Gabriel Axel.

The film follows the life of two sisters and their French housekeeper who lived together for fourteen years when the latter had been taken in despite the fact that the sisters had no money. During their time as the sisters are running their father’s congregation with the remaining villagers left in their small village, their housekeeper plans to create a feast to celebrate what would’ve been the 100th birthday of the congregation leader. Gabriel Axel’s screenplay opens with the story of these two sisters in their youth where they are both pursued by different suitors who visit their small village but both women would stay with their father and later run his congregation. The story then shifts to thirty-five years later where the Frenchwoman Babette (Stephane Audran) has arrived based on the recommendation by a former suitor of one of the sisters who has left France due to a conflict in the country. The story would move fourteen years where Babette receives a letter from home as it would be a brief trip where she would return with ideas for a grand feast for the sisters and the villagers.

Axel’s direction is understated in terms of its setting as well as not going for any kind of stylistic shots to go for something simple and to the point. Shot on location in the small town of Lonstrup in Denmark, Axel would use wide shots to get a scope of the locations as well as some of its surroundings including its seaside cliffs and the oceans. Yet, much of what Axel would do is maintain an intimacy with its close-ups and medium shots where the film opens with Philippa (Bodil Kjer) and Martine (Birgitte Federspiel) is holding a congregation meeting with its small villagers while Babette would serve them food. The flashbacks of the sisters when they were younger as it’s told by Ghita Norby’s narration to play into the world they could’ve been in with Philippa being courted by an officer and Martine by an opera singer due to her voice. Axel would show why the sisters chose to stay as it relates to their father and the congregation that he is leading in this small yet fruitful community.

The tone of the film would change upon Babette’s arrival as she would eventually learn how to speak Danish as well as things do lighten up until Babette has to return to France briefly where a soup that she’s known to make that is recreated by the sisters isn’t as good. It would lead to the third act where Babette returns from France with a bevy of things as it relates to the film’s climatic feast. The attention to detail into what Babette would create in her feast is engaging where Axel is fixated on all of the ingredients she’s bringing in as well as the preparation for the entrees she’s making. The dinner which would include a couple of major guests as there’s a sense of apprehension from Philippa due to a surreal dream she had about what she and the guests will eat. Once the guests would get as their feast, something magical happens as it play into the unexpected as well as the familiar. Overall, Axel crafts a ravishing and sumptuous film about a French housekeeper and the feast she makes for her mistresses and their guests.

Cinematographer Henning Kristiansen does brilliant work with the cinematography with its usage of natural lights for many of the interior/exterior scenes in the village with a few artificial lighting for a few scenes in the places outside of the village. Editor Finn Henriksen does excellent work with the editing as it has some unique rhythmic cuts to play into a few scenes of Babette cooking or in moments that play into the lives of the two sisters. Production designer Sven Wichmann does amazing work with the look of the home that the sisters live in as well as the houses in the village and the interiors of the rich places that the suitors of the sisters lived in.

Costume designer Annelise Hauberg does fantastic work with the costumes from the plain and colorless dresses of the villagers to the colorful look of the officer’s uniform. Sound mixer Hans-Eric Ahrn does superb work for the sound in creating a natural mix of sounds to play into the atmosphere of the village and its surroundings as well as the climatic dinner scene. The film’s music by Per Norgaard is wonderful for its low-key orchestral score that has elements of opera and traditional religious music that play into the world that the characters live in.

The film’s incredible cast include some notable small performances from Gert Bastian as a poor villager who loves Babette’s soup, Pouel Kern as Philippa and Martine’s father, Hanna Stensgaard and Vibeke Hastrup in their respective roles as the younger versions of Philippa and Martine, Thomas Antoni as a Swedish lieutenant, and Bibi Andersson as a Swedish courtier that would introduce General Lowenheilm to his wife. Jean-Philippe Lafont is superb as the opera singer Achille Papin as the man who courts Philippa as he hears her voice and later send Babette to her and Martine. 

Jarl Kulle is fantastic as General Lorens Lowenheilm as a man who falls for Martine as he would see her years later in attending the feast. Bodil Kjer and Birgitte Federspiel are amazing in their respective roles as Philippa and Martine as two sisters who run their father’s congregation as well as dealing with its dwindling followers and reluctantly give Babette the chance to create her feast. Finally, there’s Stephane Audran in a phenomenal performance as Babette as a woman who becomes the housekeeper for two sisters where she would create food that would be extraordinary and wanting to return the favor to the sisters by creating a feast that would become an once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Babette’s Feast is a sensational film from Gabriel Axel. Along with its incredible cast, gorgeous visuals, sumptuous music, and images of delicious food, it’s a film that explore what an ordinary woman could to help two old ladies and a village in giving them something that is extraordinary. In the end, Babette’s Feast is a spectacular film from Gabriel Axel.

© thevoid99 2018

The Kingdom II (TV Miniseries)

Riget II (The Kingdom II) is the sequel to the 1994 TV mini-series created by Lars von Trier about a Danish hospital being haunted by strange happenings involving the supernatural. For its second part that is directed by von Trier and Morten Arnfred with scripts written by von Trier and Niels Vorsel. The sequel has many of the mini-series previous characters returning as it involves more supernatural mysteries involving a baby born in a man’s body, voodoo, and all sorts of bad things. Starring Ernst-Hugo Jaregard, Kirsten Rolffes, Holger Juul Hansen, Soren Pilmark, Ghita Norby, Baard Owe, Birgitte Raaberg, Henning Jensen, Erik Wedersoe, John Hahn-Petersen, Birthe Neuman, and von Trier regular Udo Kier along with an appearance from another von Trier regular in Stellan Skarsgard. Riget II is an even crazier and stranger mini-series than its predecessor.

Episode 5: Death on the Operation Table

After being hit by an ambulance, Mrs. Drusse (Kirsten Rolffes) returns to the hospital as she realizes that more spirits need her help as Bulder (Jens Okking) and Hansen (Otto Brandenberg) help her out. Returning from Haiti, Dr. Helmer (Ernst-Hugo Jaregard) conspires to poison Hook (Soren Pilmark) as he is asked by Moesgaard (Holger Juul Hansen) to manage things at the hospital. Moesgaard tries to deal with the country’s health director Bob (Henning Jensen) and his assistant Nievesen (John Hahn-Petersen) over funding forcing him to seek help from the hospital‘s rogue shrink Ole (Erik Wedersoe). Hook looks after Judith (Birgitte Raaberg) as he convinces her to see her new mutated baby (Udo Kier).

Episode 6: Birds of Passage

After her near-death experience, Mrs. Drusse realizes her mission to save the lost souls in the hospital is bigger than ever under the watchful eye of an evil presence. Meanwhile, Helmer gains an electric car while dealing with detectives about Mona (Laura Christensen). With Mogge (Peter Mykind) becoming Helmer’s assistant, he also tries to help his friend Christian (Ole Boisen) to woo Sanne (Louise Fribo). Moesgaard tries to deal with Ole’s unconventional tactics along with the presence of Bob who continues to meddle in the activities of the lodge. With Bulder helping out his mother to get a psychic surgeon named Philip Marco (Fash Shodeinde) who would have an encounter with the recovering Bondo (Baard Owe). Things get stranger as Helmer tries to find Hook’s body while Mrs. Drusse holds a seminar for the spirits asking what they want.

Episode 7: Gargantua

After being shot by Rigmor (Ghita Norby), Helmer’s plan for Hook is changed when Hook has returned from the dead seeking vengeance on Helmer. Judith and her baby receives a strange visit from Aage Krger (Udo Kier) as Mrs. Drusse realizes that he is here and was the man who flew away the spirits. Helping out Moesgaard and the elders of the lodge, Nievesen tries to make sure things go right for Bob’s inspection while Helmer meets a lawyer (Stellan Skarsgard) about Mona’s case as they share their disdain towards the Danes. Christian continues to pursue Sanne while Mogge becomes overwhelmed by his relationship with Camilla (Solbjorg Hojfeldt). After realizing what is lurking inside the hospital, Mrs. Drusse makes a plan to uncover the secret while Helmer finds himself in big trouble as evil starts to emerge into the hospital.

Episode 8: Pandemonium

Following a plane crash that nearly killed them, Mrs. Drusse and Bulder go further into the hospital where they find a much darker secret involving Satanic rituals. After going through a series of humiliating ordeals involving the lodge, Rigmor, Mona, Mogge‘s examination test, a server, and losing his beloved car, Helmer goes on the offensive. Bondo’s ailment starts to get to him as members of the lodge desperately try to find a donor where the candidate is the most unlikely person in the hospital. Christian decides to make a move to prove to everyone he’s not a bore while Moesgaard has an epiphany through Ole’s treatment. All of this leads to a collision where Mrs. Drusse tries to uncover who is one of the dark souls in the hospital as all hell breaks loose.

In the sequel to Riget, things become even stranger and looser as the story revolves more about Mrs. Drusse’s attempt to save the spirits around her in the hospital while dealing with the big evil lurking inside. Meanwhile, Helmer returns to Haiti to try and poison Hook only to counter more trouble as detectives are after him about his botched surgery on Mona along with all sorts of trouble. Hook gets poisoned as he decides to go after that is wrong while Judith tries to take care of her deformed, mutant baby. All of this is told once again by the two Down syndrome dishwashers (Morten Rotne Leffers and Vita Jensen) who know that something is up or something is going to happen.

The script by Lars von Trier and Niels Vorsel is much looser than its predecessor as the structure is more disjointed where there is a way each episode in the first mini-series had. In the second part, the early meetings don’t happen quite often early on as Helmer no longer has his car while Moesgaard is dealing with various issues. Though each episode does have Helmer saying “Danish scum” towards the end onto a toilet. Things definitely get much weirder and confusing as it all builds up to this climatic suspense over what is watching the Kingdom hospital. Since there was supposed to be a follow-up for this second part of Riget, unfortunate circumstances, due to the death of a few key actors, leaves the series with an ending that leaves everything in a cliffhanger with more questions than answers.

The direction of Lars von Trier and Morten Arnfred is much looser in terms of its presentation as well as more ambitious ideas. Among them is the design of Judith’s baby as well as the use of more set pieces beneath the realm that is the Kingdom. With the camera work much looser and jarring for its presentation where the framing becomes more off-kilter as the camera is often moving around or staying still in a very tilted approach. The visual style remains the same but there is this very green, night-vision look to it that emphasize that something evil is lurking around. The humor is definitely more off the wall as it even lean towards darker territory which includes various orderlies and medical students betting on a crazed ambulance race that happens every night. The overall work that von Trier and Arnfred does is more entrancing as well as being more unconventional in creating a sequel that is just as good as its predecessor.

Cinematographer Eric Kress does a fantastic job with the mini-series‘ grainy yet sepia-drenched 16mm cinematography to play up more of its visual style as well utilizing night vision for the evil presence lurking throughout the series. Editors Pernille Bech Christensen and Molly Marlene Stensgaard do great work in the editing to maintain a very loose feel for its pacing while utilizing jump-cuts to create a disjointed feel throughout each episode. Production designers Jette Lehmann and Hans Christian Lindholm do excellent work in creating the set pieces such as the dark hallways and mysterious places lurking in the hospital as well as the rooms and such that many of the characters encounter. Costume designer Annelise Bailey does a very good job with the costumes made such as the hospital lab coats and casual clothing many of the characters wear.

Special effects makeup by Kim and Lis Olsson do amazing work with the look and design of Judith‘s baby from its long arms and big body to the makeup work that is made for Udo Kier. Special effects by Lars Andersen and Annette Rolfshoj is superb for the effects made for the spirits that surrounds Mrs. Drusse as they help her in her mission to save the hospital. The sound work of Hans Moller is wonderful for the atmosphere that is created along with mixes to help build up the suspense that occurs throughout each episode. The score by Joachim Holbek is terrific for its chilling electronic pieces to play up the drama while utilizing more rhythmic cuts for its suspenseful moments.

The ensemble cast for this mini-series is truly the highlight of the entire project as it features some notable appearances from Stellan Skarsgard as Helmer’s lawyer, Birthe Neumann as Moesgaard’s secretary who often annoys Helmer, Ole Boissen as the very timid Christian, Louise Fribo as the blood-phobic Sanne, Solbjorg Hojfeldt as Mogge’s sleep lab older girlfriend Camilla, Annevig Schelde Ebbe as the ghost Mary, and Laura Christensen as brain-damaged girl Mona. Other noteworthy supporting roles include Henning Jensen as the snoopy director Bob, John Hahn-Petersen as Bob’s assistant Nievesen, Erik Wedersoe as the eccentric psychiatrist Ole, Otto Brandenberg as the humorous orderly Hansen, Birgitte Raaberg as the weary yet maternal Judith, and Udo Kier in dual rules as Judith’s baby and his demonic father.

Jens Okking is very funny as the lazy but helpful Bulder while Baard Owe is very good as the ailing yet driven Bonde. Peter Mygind is wonderful as the very upbeat and charming Mogge as is Ghita Norby as the vengeful but cunning Rigmor. Morten Rotne Leffers and Vita Jensen are brilliant as the two dishwashers who comment everything that happens as they each bring a wonderful enthusiasm to their roles. Soren Pilmark is excellent as the vengeful Hook who comes back from the dead to go after the ills he sees.

Holger Juul Hansen is terrific as the kind but insecure Moesgaard who tries to deal with his own personal issues. Kirsten Rolffes is fantastic as Mrs. Drusse who becomes more determined to save lost spirits following her own near-death experience. Finally, there’s Ernst-Hugo Jaregard in an amazing performance as Stig Helmer as Jaregard makes Helmer more despicable but also funny as it’s a great role for the legendary Swedish actor.

Riget II is a dark yet more off-the-wall TV mini-series from Lars von Trier and Morten Arnfred. While the only disappointing factor is that there won’t be a third part due to the deaths of Ernst-Hugo Jaregard, Kirsten Rolffes, and Morten Rotne Leffers. It does however manage to be a very exciting follow-up to its 1994 predecessor that never gets boring nor keep things off track while still being very crazy. In the end, Lars von Trier and Morten Arnfred deliver once again with Riget II as it reminds everyone to keep the good with the evil.

Lars von Trier Films: The Element of Crime - Epidemic - Medea - Europa - The Kingdom I - Breaking the Waves - Dogme #2: Idioterne - Dancer in the Dark - Dogville - The Five Obstructions - Manderlay - The Boss of It All - Antichrist - Dimension (2010 short) - Melancholia - Nymphomaniac - The House That Jack Built - The Kingdom: Exodus - (Etudes)

Related: The Auteurs #7: Lars von Trier

© thevoid99 2012

The Kingdom I (TV Miniseries)

Created by Lars von Trier, Riget (The Kingdom) is a four-part TV mini-series about a Danish hospital that is haunted by strange occurrences relating to the supernatural. Directed by Lars von Trier and Morten Arnfred and written by von Trier, Niels Vorsel, and Tomas Gislason. The TV mini-series is a mixture of horror and medical dramas taken to strange heights. Starring Ernst-Hugo Jaregard, Kirsten Rolffes, Holger Juul Hansen, Soren Pilmark, Ghita Norby, Baard Owe, Birgitte Raaberg, and von Trier regular Udo Kier. Riget is a strange yet very exciting TV mini-series from Lars von Trier and Morten Arnfred.

Episode 1: The Unheavenly Host

At the most technological advanced hospital in Denmark that was built on top of a mysterious mystical marsh some many years ago. Yet, something strange is going on at Kingdom hospital where top neurosurgeon Stig Helmer (Ernst-Hugo Jaregard) is about to attend a secret ceremony while dealing with young doctors who defy his authority. Particularly when an old woman named Sigrid Drusse (Kirsten Roffes) keeps checking because of she has no feeling in her arm. Yet, Drusse is really trying to contact a mysterious spirit she heard crying above the elevator as she asks her son Bulder (Jens Okking) to help her out. Meanwhile, a young student named Mogge (Peter Mygind) is causing trouble as he is attracted to an older doctor named Camilla (Solbjorg Hojfeldt) where he tries to give her a strange present.

Episode 2: Thy Kingdom Come

Helmer is under fire over a botched surgery that left a young girl named Mona (Laura Christensen) brain damage where the hospital’s manager Einar Moesgaard (Holger Juul Hansen) is trying to help Helmer with the situation. Meanwhile, Mogge is in trouble with his superior in professor Palle Bondo (Baare Owe) who is going through his own troubles over research for a tumor is being stopped by a patient’s family. During a surgery performed by Helmer, its patient sees a mysterious young girl (Annevig Schelde Ebbe) in the form of a ghost as it is the ghost Drusse has been trying to find. While Drusse comforts a dying woman who helps her make contact with the ghost learning her name is Mary. With Helmer dealing with lots of issues as he finds comfort in fellow doctor Rigmor Mortensen (Ghita Norby) as he attends another meeting with Moesgaard and Bondo.

Episode 3: A Foreign Body

After learning that a copy of report about Mona’s brain damage worries Helmer as he tries to get the report before the medical board reads it. Hook learns about the report as he tries to obtain the report with Mogge’s help where they had to go into the archives. Drusse makes a breakthrough about the secret ambulance that comes to the hospital every night as she thinks it has something to do with Mary. With Bulder’s help to gather archives about what happened to Mary, Drusse makes a big discovery about how Mary may had died as she wanted to go to Dr. Bondo for help. Yet, Bondo decides to take his study about a liver tumor to new heights following Helmer’s suggestion about taking the transplant since the patient had already signed up to be a donor years ago. When Hook’s pregnant girlfriend Judith Petersen (Birgitte Raaberg) finally gathers the report legally for Hook. Something strange is happening inside her while Drusse and Bulder get closer about what happened to Mary.

Episode 4: The Living Dead

In fear over what the chief medical officer might find in the report, Helmer decides to take a leave of absence as Moesgaard asks Helmer to be the presenter for a visit with the country’s health minister. Helmer agrees to do it as he tries to confront Hook about the report copy he obtained yet Hook has other problems to deal with. With Judith’s pregnancy going rapid as he and Mrs. Drusse thinks there is something wrong with her fetus. Mrs. Drusse makes a breakthrough in her discovery about what happened to Mary as she learns who her killer is. Hook helps Mrs. Drusse and Bulder out where he makes a discovery about Judith’s boyfriend (Udo Kier). With Dr. Bondo still ill from the surgery and Helmer fleeing to Haiti with a hospital worker, Moesgaard finds himself having to show the minister what goes on in the hospital as all hell breaks loose.

The TV mini-series is about a hospital that was built on a mysterious marsh where strange things happen as a spiritualist patient tries to communicate with the dead while a Swedish doctor is being accused of medical negligence. There’s a lot that goes on in the TV mini-series as some of it is told by a couple of dishwashers with Down syndrome who would also unveil things that would happen. Yet, each episode takes place in the span of 24 hours where something is going to happen.

The teleplay that is written by Lars von Trier and Niels Vorsel, with Tomas Gislason co-writing the shooting script with von Trier, has a structure of how each episode opens and ends. The episode always opens with a prologue about the marsh and its mysteries where a hospital was built in a state of arrogance by those wanting a hospital. After the prologue and the opening credits, each episode (with the exception of The Living Dead) has a simple way of setting each episode for its beginning and end. It always open with Dr. Helmer arriving into a special parking space with cones around his car as he takes out the hubcaps from the car and later make some complaints to parking security officers.

Then there’s the meeting led by Moesgaard where Helmer either doesn’t participate or makes some kind of complaint. Late in the episode, Helmer and Moesgaard go to a meeting with elders that included Bondo while all sorts of mayhem occur. Towards the end, Helmer is always looking up in the sky screaming “Danish scum” as the closing credits has Lars von Trier commenting on the episode and tells his viewers to take the good with the evil. That’s how the structure of each episode happens with the exception of The Living Dead as there’s changes that occur once the suspense starts to build up over the death of this girl many years ago. Meanwhile, there’s a lot going on throughout each episode that involves various characters that play up to the nightmarish horror that occurs or bring all sorts of strange humor that happens throughout the series.

The direction of Lars von Trier and Morten Arnfred is truly hypnotic in the way they frame the scenes while shooting the project entirely with hand-held cameras where there’s a bit of shaky element to it. There’s parts of the film where things become very shaky for more intense, hyperactive moments while a lot of remains still and such with constant shots of an elevator looked from above or a shot of Helmer screaming with a camera above him. While it is a TV project that is a mixture of horror and hospital-based dramas, there is an element of humor that is quintessential to what von Trier is known for.

There’s also a lot of strange, surreal moments in the film where von Trier puts characters in very different set pieces to add the element of fantasy as they either face nightmares or discover some big clues. The way suspense is built is done in a very slow yet methodical rhythm where at times, it can go off kilter. What is revealed can be presented but not in particular the right moment as von Trier and Arnfred play with these rhythms. Some of it the horror moments play off in a form of dark humor or to the point where it will test a viewer’s idea of gore and such. Overall, this is truly an outstanding yet chilling project from Morten Arnfred and Lars von Trier.

Cinematographer Eric Kress does a fantastic job with the mini-series‘ stylish photography where it‘s dominated by a very grainy yet sepia-like orange palette for its look. Notably as it aims for a style that is a precursor to the Dogme 95 style that von Trier co-founded but with a large degree of style where everything seems very surreal. Editors Molly Malene Stensgaard and Jacob Thuesen do amazing work in the editing to create unconventional rhythms in the use of jump-cuts and other unique approach to pacing where it feels much looser in its tone for an episode that often averages for more than an hour.

Production designer Jette Lehman does an excellent job with the creation for some of the rooms and elevator lifts that happens in the hospital where it seems like a place that is about to fall apart no matter how modern it tries to be. Costume designer Bjarne Nilsson does a very good job with the costumes from the hospital coats and gear many of the cast wears to the pink bathrobe that Mrs. Drusse wears. Special makeup effect designers Kim and Lis Olsson do incredible work on the makeup for characters like Mary and Mona as the two young girls play up to the manic state their in. Visual effects work by Soren Buus does terrific work with the visual effects where it‘s meant to be cheesy and surreal for the superimposed backgrounds that is made along with transparent visual effects to play up the ghostly aspect of the mini-series.

Sound editors Per Streit and Hans Moller do a fantastic job with the sound work to build up the suspense of some parts of the mini-series including creating intimate yet chaotic moments in the board meeting scenes and other chilling moments. The music of Joachim Holbek is superb with its eerie electronic score to play up the drama and suspense along with brooding orchestral touches along with a thunderous theme song for the opening and closing credits for each episode.

The ensemble cast for the mini-series is truly spectacular for the people that is brought in for this project. In small but recurring roles, there’s appearances from Udo Kier in a flashback role as the mysterious Age Kruger as well as Judith’s boyfriend along with Louise Fribo as medical student Sanne, Birthe Neumann as Moesgaard’s secretary, Otto Brandenberg as orderly Hansen, Laura Christensen as the brain-damaged Mona, Annevig Schelde Ebbe as the ghost of Mary, and in the charming roles of the Down-syndrome dishwashers are Vita Jensen and Morten Rotne Leffers. Other notable supporting roles include Solbjorg Hojfeldt as sleep lab consultant Camilla, Jens Okking as Drusse’s orderly son Bulder, Peter Mygind as the lanky yet playful Mogge, and Birgitte Raaberg as Hook’s pregnant girlfriend Judith.

Baard Owe is excellent as Dr. Bondo, a part-time professor who takes a risk in taking a cancerous liver into his own body for his own research. Ghita Norby is wonderful as Rigmor, the only doctor who likes Helmer as she helps him with reports and such only to later be spurred by him. Soren Pilmark is superb as Hook, a competent doctor who helps out Mrs. Drusse while running a black market operation inside the hospital. Holger Juul Hansen is terrific as Mogge’s father and hospital manager Moesgaard who tries to make things easy for Helmer as well as wanting a very positive atmosphere in the Kingdom hospital. Kirsten Rolffes is great as Mrs. Drusse, a spiritualist who makes contact with ghosts as she leads the charge to uncover the mystery unaware of how far she has gone.

Finally, there’s Ernst-Hugo Jaregard in a very magnificent performance as Dr. Stig Helmer who despises the way of the Danes while wanting to maintain his own ideas of how to run things. It’s a very strong performance for the late Swedish actor who also brings in a great sense of energy and humor to his character no matter how un-likeable he is.

Riget is a remarkable yet extremely haunting TV mini-series from Lars von Trier and Morten Arnfred. Featuring a great ensemble cast led by Ernst-Hugo Jaregard, it is a mini-series that is filled with lots of creepy and suspenseful moments as well as unique humor and an entrancing visual style. For fans of Lars von Trier, it is among one of his most essential works of his career as it’s also a must-see for those interested in medical dramas with a dash of horror. In the end, Riget is a phenomenal mini-series from Morten Arnfred and Lars von Trier that suggests to take the good with the evil.

Lars von Trier Films: The Element of Crime - Epidemic - Medea - Europa - Breaking the Waves - The Kingdom II - Dogme #2-Idioterne - Dancer in the Dark - Dogville - The Five Obstructions - Manderlay - The Boss of It All - Antichrist - Dimension (2010 short) - Melancholia - Nymphomaniac - The House That Jack Built - The Kingdom: Exodus - (Etudes)

Related: The Auteurs #7: Lars von Trier

© thevoid99 2012