Tag: thefiveobstructions

The Five Obstructions (2003)

Lars von Trier and Jørgen Leth’s The Five Obstructions (2003) features its two directors as its sole protagonists, with the former challenging the latter, his mentor and good friend, to a series of filmmaking challenges he calls “obstructions” in which Leth is asked to remake his film The Perfect Human, von Trier’s favorite film, a total of five times, each remake with a different twist and instruction.

Despite being a very recent offering, The Five Obstructions could be considered one of the more advanced films for new fans of European film. I say this because most, if not all of the noted staples of European cinema according to Wollen (1972) were present in the film.

For instance, what was immediately striking about The Five Obstructions was that the plot once again was far from linear. Narrative intransitivity was very much present; although the five obstructions were shown in what seemed to be chronological order, none of these seemed to build off each other and presented fresh starts and clean slates each time. As a result of this approach, the scenes were segmented, episodic, and never necessarily transitioned into each other smoothly, with loose ends hardly being tied up and leaving the viewers to make sense of each event. Especially in the film’s opening moments, the audience’s full attention is demanded in order for them to make sense of the on-screen scenarios.

Multiple diegesis was also very much present. Even though the two protagonists an were the only two elements that remained constant throughout the entire film, nothing in the film seemed to exist solely to tie each obstruction together. To an extent, the environment each obstruction was taken up in seemed to be a world of its own.

The film’s articulation of these individual worlds are where European cinema’s unpleasure and estrangement played out. For instance, strange and unusual images were shown in the scenarios of The Perfect Human, as one particular obstruction portrayed a luxuriously-dressed Leth in the middle of poverty. I felt this kind of visual stimulus alone provoked my sensibilities rather than cause entertainment or pleasure. This occurred many more times throughout the film as each obstruction gave them viewer something to ponder intensely about, enough to be a distraction at times. Estrangement, on the other hand, was obvious in that the characters within the aforementioned film (including the perfect man himself) did not actually contribute to the film’s plot unfolding or to the dialogue and themes in any way.

A certain dedication to theatrics and experimentation is present in the film’s finest details. Everything from the dialogue and word choice of dramatic words (obstruction, suffering, torture) to the concepts and execution (limiting the sudden use of film animation) is creative, unconventional, and wildly eclectic in the way only European cinema seems to have the capacity to present.

I feel as though the film was heavy with themes of self-discovery; this became more evident as each obstruction was overcome, particularly towards the end where the film seemed to find itself launched into a deeply reflective and relatable commentary on the human psyche. What the film ultimately left with me as a viewer is the idea that the idea of perfect evolves, and this notion holds truest for artists aiming for just that. In Leth’s rehashing the same idea five times we see the misery of struggle, of work and toil, but ultimately this only serves to reveal a certain perfection in the struggle, as the fifth obstruction reveals his most authentic self having gone through the first four and escaped his comfort zone. The film’s experimental edge also comes in that the obstructions were a way to demonstrate cultural ideas of the perfect man (Cuba, cigarettes, etc.).

By the end of the movie, closure does not come in the way the plot’s progression would have its viewers expecting. Audiences eventually find that the goal was not simply the accomplishment of the five different obstructions but something much more human and much more meaningful. While not necessarily a complete rejection of proper closure, this demonstrates aperture in a number of ways; the film’s end is rich with equally valid meanings that any viewer can glean a message from. Both protagonists are also to an extent self-aware about the meanings of the entire experience and how these might affect them later on.

 

Perfection? I Don’t Know Her.

The Five Obstructions (2003) is my personal favorite of all the movies we have watched in our European film class so far. It’s challenging, insightful, and heartfelt all at the same time. Beyond giving us a look at the trappings of film-making, it provided us some powerful insights on the volatility of art. I couldn’t get my eyes off of the screen as Lars von Trier and Jorgen Leth embark on an artistic journey to reinterpret Leth’s short film The Perfect Human.

An underlying theme in the film is how the obstructions were geared towards reducing perfection and challenging perfection to its limits. It was as if the Perfect in The Perfect Human was being distilled off in order to arrive at the Human. It felt like von Trier was invested in seeing his idol fail–but in his failure, arrive at something human. Despite von Trier’s obstructions, Leth pulls off these masterful reinterpretations of his original work that von Trier can’t help but gush over. The back-and-forth between the two directors added to the charm of the movie. I especially enjoyed how demanding the tone von Trier used when he was giving out the obstructions.

The first obstruction was pretty standard and straightforward an obstruction. It was a matter of execution and the technical workings behind the film. Location, editing, script–these are all things directors could edit, manipulate, and ultimately pull off. It’s sort of a surface level attempt at imperfection, like what would happen to a car if it didn’t get washed for a month. The finished product felt familiar and had the markings of the original. I particularly enjoyed the result of von Trier’s 12-frame imposition.

The second obstruction was a little more difficult to pull off because it immediately involved the director. Leth is assigned to recreate his short film in a place he considers a personal hell, and the final product should reflect what he experienced without it being visible in the recreation. Would perfection remain unscathed if the artist undergoes something tragic, something horrible? I think Leth’s experience is comparable to writing a paper on poverty, going on immersion in the poorest places of Manila, and being forced to rewrite the same paper. The finished product was up to von Trier’s standards, but he did not appreciate Leth’s genius technique of using a translucent material to partially cover the people of Bombay around him.

The third obstruction, as a punishment for Leth’s violation in the previous obstruction, was no obstructions at all. Now I understand Leth’s apprehension towards this obstruction. Perfection is defined by the parameters upon which the work is evaluated. But what happens if there are no parameters? What becomes of perfection then? Without challenges to overcome and rules to follow, could art still hold meaning and beauty?

The fourth obstruction is my favorite. I think at this point, von Trier has made his intentions of arriving at something messy and as human as possible exceedingly clear. So using a medium such as cartoon animation in which everything is calculable and manipulable to create and convey something imperfect is a very intelligent move on our challenger’s part. I thought the sequence of events leading to this imposition was ironic because von Trier was talking about how beautiful moments can be captured in the spontaneity and unpredictability of human acting, and then he proceeds to assign this obstruction. Leth comes up with a gorgeous animation which von Trier just gobbles up and showers in praises.

The fifth obstruction was so sickeningly sweet and it’s just a nice way to wrap up such a great film. It was von Trier’s love letter to his idol, still retaining that cockiness he had throughout the film with him putting words in Leth’s mouth. Here he addresses his intentions in starting this little project with Leth. It’s great to see this side of von Trier. Having watched some of his films and having a sense of how his mind operates, it’s kind of adorable to know that he is capable of having actual human feelings.

However masterful all the reimaginations of The Perfect Human were, we see how the sense of perfection in the original is reduced and reinterpreted in so many different ways. Although I must admit that these revamps of the original were kind of confusing in a sense that I didn’t know what they were trying to convey, witnessing the process of challenging and creating art makes the movie a really great watch for me. I have a feeling I will be thinking about this film for a while.