Forbrydelsens element (1984)
 "Element of crime"

Director

Lars von Trier

Writing credits       

Lars von Trier
Tom Elling
Tomas Gslason
Niels Vorsel
William Quarshie (english dialog translation)
Stephen Wakelam (english dialog translation)



Cast


Michael Elphick .... Fisher
Esmond Knight .... Osborne
Me Me Lai .... Kim
Jerold Wells.... Police Chief Kramer
Ahmed El Shenawi .... Therapist
Astrid Henning-Jensen .... Osborne's Housekeeper
Jnos Hersk .... Coroner
Stig Larsson .... Coroner's Assistant
Harry Harper .... First Hotel Clerk
Roman Moszkowicz .... Second Hotel Clerk
Lars von Trier .... Schmuck of Ages
Frederik Casby .... White Policeman
Duke Addabayo .... Black Policeman
Jon Bang Carlsen .... Angry Policeman
Leif Magnusson .... Hotel Guest
Preben Lerdorff Rye .... Grandfather
Camilla Overbye Roos .... First Lotto Girl
Maria Behrendt .... Second Lotto Girl
Mogens Rukov .... Librarian
Gotha Andersen .... Judge

 




Produced by

Per Holst


Original music by

Henrik Blickman
Mogens Dam
Bo Holten


Cinematography by

Tom Elling


Edit

Tomas Gslason


Production design by

Peter Himark


Costume design by

Manon Rasmussen


Make up

Birthe Christensen 


Production management

Palle Arestrup        post-production manager
Sanne Arnt Torp     production manager
ÅPer rman               production manager


Second unit director

Åke Sandgren .... assistant director


Sound department

Morten Degnbol        sound recordist
Tomas Gislason         sound editor
Iben Haahr                sound recordist




Stunts
Lasse Spang Olsen 
O.J. Victor 

Other crew

Lars von Trier .... camera operator
øSren Berthelin .... camera operator
øSteen Mller Rasmussen .... camera operator
Otto Stenov .... camera operator
Willy Flint .... japanese consultant
Poul Kristensen .... opticals
Michael Nielsen .... color timer
Eg Norre .... lighting engineer
Jan Richter-Friis .... assistant of production
Leif Stubkjaer .... underwater photographer




English title       The Element of Crime(1990) (UK)
Runtime             UK:104'
Country              Denmark
Language           English
Color

 

STORY
Lars Von Trier's debut feature film--also his first English language effort--is an extremely hypnotic, moody thriller. The story opens in the desert of Egypt, where police detective Leopold Fisher (Michael Elphick) is hypnotized and asked to recount the recent events of his life. It seems that Fisher has been called back to a small town where he has previously spent time in order to investigate the brutal murders of several little girls who sell lottery tickets. He reunites with his mentor, Osborne (Esmond Night), the writer of a controversial book entitled THE ELEMENT OF CRIME, in which he recommends that investigators adopt the point of view of killers in order to better predict subsequent tragedies. When Fisher meets Kim (Meme Lei), a beautiful young woman, the pair embarks on a journey that begins to blur the line between Fisher's simulated killer and the real thing.
This film takes place within a dismal future, where for reasons unknown the world has fallen into a state of darkness. The word darkness is used to mean the literal sense as there is very little light, but also to describe the way people have become inside, which can be quite dark as we soon learn. Fisher (Michael Elphick) returns to his former home somewhere in Europe and though he thought his street days were done, he decides to also return to his former profession. You see, Fisher was a police officer and now with the help of his mentor, he plans on solving a string of brutal murders. He has been gone for well over a decade, but with his mentor's assistance via a book he was written, Fisher hopes to have some luck. This book is titled The Element Of Crime and Fisher will use it to track down his suspect, which won't be easy by any means. Fisher starts out with good intentions, but will he soon get sucked into the darkness that surrounds him?

trier at the set of the film

 

REVIEWS

"The morality of the police is no different from that of society." by David Dalgleish
"Future Tense" by Jeffrey M. Anderson