April 29, 2021

Lars von Trier's Birthday

On April 30, Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier celebrates his birthday. In numerous publications devoted to this director, he is called a brawler, outrageous, a symbol of political incorrectness, etc. etc. True, no one denies the genius inherent in Lars von Trier. Perhaps, to some extent, the shocking inherent in Trier's paintings can be explained by the peculiarities of his upbringing. Lars von Trier was born on April 30, 1956, in the suburbs of Copenhagen in the family of civil servants Ulf Trier and his wife Inger, née Höst. Ulf and Inger Trier adhered to the left, communist beliefs, denied the need for any strict discipline in raising children. Moreover, both were passionate fans of nudism, so Lars spent several of his school holidays in nudist camps.

Lars von Trier during the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

Readers have probably noticed that in relation to the surname of Ulf Trier, the particle "von", meaning belonging to an aristocratic family, is not used. And this is perfectly understandable. Neither Ulf Trier, a Jew by nationality, nor Lars' biological father, Dane Fritz Michael Hartmann, had anything to do with the aristocracy. But in the family of Hartmann, Inger Trier's boss, there were several generations of musicians. Lars's mother only on her deathbed confessed to her son her sin, when Lars was already 33 years old. Inger explained her act by saying that she wanted her son to have artistic genes. Judging by the success of her son in the cinematic field, mother achieved her goal. Part of "von" Lars Trier arbitrarily "attached" to his surname in imitation of the famous German filmmakers Erich von Stroheim and Joseph von Sternberg, who, being Jews by nationality, finding themselves in America, pretended to be German aristocrats.

Europa. 1991. Movie's Rating - 7,967; 749th Rank in the Golden Thousand.

Inger's brother, Börge Höst, a well-known documentary filmmaker in Denmark, played an important role in instilling a love for cinema in Lars. Thanks to his uncle, Lars played his first film role at the age of 12, and at the age of 17, Börge got him a job as an editor at the Danish Film Fund. While working for this foundation, Lars directed several short films that helped him to enter the Danish National Film School in the directing department. In parallel with his studies at the Film School, Lars studied film theory at the University of Copenhagen. At the age of 28, Lars von Trier (from that moment on he began to use the "background" particle) shot his first full-length feature film "Forbrydelsens element (The Element of Crime)". And Trier's very first film received 12 film awards and 3 nominations, including the prestigious Danish Bodil Prize as Best Danish Film of the Year and a nomination for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Trier did not receive the main prize at the Cannes Film Festival that year. By the decision of the jury, chaired by the famous British actor Dirk Bogard, Palme d'Or "went" to the film "Paris, Texas" by Wim Wenders. But Trier's film was awarded the Technical Grand Prix.

Breaking the Waves. 1996. Movie's Rating - 8,739; 227th Rank in the Golden Thousand.

To date, Lars von Trier has 14 full-length feature films, 4 of which entered the Golden Thousand, including "Dancer in the Dark", "Dogville", "Breaking the Waves", "Europa". Thanks to this indicator, Lars von Trier is included in the list of the 100 greatest directors of world cinema compiled by FilmGourmand. Directorial activity of Lars von Trier was awarded with 106 film awards, including the Palme d'Or, the Grand Prix of the Jury and the Jury Prize of the Cannes Film Festival, the award of the International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary, the César Award of the French Film Academy, the David di Donatello Award of the Italian Film Academy, 3 awards of the European film academy, the Spanish Goya award and, of course, 7 Danish Bodil awards and 14 Danish Robert awards.

Dancer in the Dark. 2000. Movie's Rating - 9,026; 159th Rank in the Golden Thousand.

In honor of the birthday of the great Master, we offer to the attention of fans of his work frames from his best films included in the Golden Thousand.

Dogville. 2003. Movie's Rating - 8,974; 172nd Rank in the Golden Thousand.