Video Review: The Idiots

Lars von Trier, 1999
Colour, Danish with subtitles

Lars von Trier is the enigmatic director who previously created The Kingdom (parts 1 and 2), a ghost story cum soap opera set in a bleak Scandinavian hospital. His latest offering, now out to rent, is in a slightly different vein. It still pokes fun at last century's ideas of health and disease, but rather than satirise the ER genre, The Idiots focuses on the blurring of the boundaries between mental illness and lifestyle. The plot is simple but ingenious: a group of young adults dissatisfied with everyday life decide to act as though they were mentally disabled, each taking it in turn to be the "minder." This is filmed rather like a docu-soap.

Entertainment value is limited to serve a higher artistic goal, which makes this film different from crass or overly sentimental films such as Dumb and Dumber or Forrest Gump. Then, of course, there's the comparison with Shine, the story of a talented pianist whose life was blighted by mental illness. The humour of the film lies in the knowledge that a group of malcontents successfully fool society that they are "idiots" and are excused all manner of amusing atrocities. There is a more subtle strand of satire in that they inevitably succeed in annoying or disgusting each other, although they each claim an ideological high ground. The "idiots" talk of "spassing" in the same breath that they accuse each other of being sick, and of society being "fascist."

Such humour will not appeal to everyone and could be regarded as demeaning to all who suffer mental handicap, or are sick. Conversely it could be regarded as an important message about society's attitude towards mentally handicapped people; through their antics the "idiots" push the tolerance of those around them to the limit. Perhaps it is important that these limits vary. This film could have been called, "The Hypocrites," but "The Idiots" is probably more descriptive.

Andrew Papanikitas, third year medical student, GKT, London


studentBMJ 2000;08:89-130 April ISSN 0966-6494