I had heard of this film for a while now, the concept interested me but it wasn't until I saw Lars Von Trier's film Antichrist at the Edinburgh Film Festival that I thought I definitely had to see it.
The film documents Lars Von Trier with his friend and mentor, Jørgen Leth, another filmmaker. Lars Von Trier's favourite film is Jørgen Leth's The Perfect Human (1967). 
Von Trier creates a challenge for Leth by giving him the task of remaking his 60's film 'The Perfect Human' five times, each time with a different 'obstruction' given by Lars Von Trier.
Von Trier creates a challenge for Leth by giving him the task of remaking his 60's film 'The Perfect Human' five times, each time with a different 'obstruction' given by Lars Von Trier.
I found this film very thought provoking. Until I started at the Academy I didn't realise how many constraints there are on filmmakers. However I do think it is these constraints that make filmmaking interesting as this is how we get to show initiative and original/new ways to solve problems. Just like in screenwriting, it's the faults that make human characters identifiable, I feel its the same for films, often the parts you had to improvise or compromise on turn out to be the most interesting. It would be interesting to see the opposite, a film with no constraints at all, unlimited budget and resources. I could bet that this film would not be half as interesting to watch as one such as 'The Five Obstructions'.
In Lars' first obstruction Leth is required to re-film The Perfect Human in Cuba (with Cuban actors), and to introduce a cut every 12 frames! This seemed to be Leth's idea of a nightmare (I got the impression he's quite the perfectionist!) however when I saw the end result it was amazing! The 12 frame cuts gave such a quirky rhythm to the film. What was interecting was how different the same concept was with just a few changes, it really shows you how you can get a completely different film by changing your location, actors, or editing style.
They got worse, for Lars' second obstruction Leth must play the 'Perfect Human' himself and he has to film it in the most miserable setting he can imagine! He has to act out the banquet scene in the middle of the slums in India, eating all this decadent food being watched by hundreds of people in extreme poverty.
I found this part hard to watch, Leth was clearly uncomfortable (which was Lars' objective) At each obstruction Leth manages to create new versions of perfection, which angers Lars' who wants Leth to expose something of his own imperfect humanity in all the remakes, you can tell that Lars is very interested in the psychology of filmmaking, I got the impression really wanted to take Leth to a dark place in order to discover something new for the remakes. I think this is what makes a good documentary, just like in fiction, documentaries need a journey to take the audience thorough and this was definitely happening. There was also a really good sense of reality, you could see time passing in the seasons and the length of Leth's facial hair. 
I thought this was an extremely bold documentary which in itself was very human showing, friendly rivalry, and the exploration of what perfection actually is...
Sounds quite interesting, how did you get a hold of this?
ReplyDeleteIt was very interesting, I borrowed it from the Glasgow School of Art library. Maybe they have a copy at the Academy, if they don't we should ask them to get it!
ReplyDeleteWe should, the idea of films being remade under constraints by the original director is quite an interesting subject.
ReplyDeleteThough, I would love to see a few different directors be given the same script and the same budget and see how each different story turns out.
That would cost a lot of money though! And who would watch that many versions of the same story...how about if you have one script/one budget with a number of directors each doing a segment, to make up a complete film?
ReplyDeleteYou're right Charlotte, no-one would watch it, but I think it could work for a 10-20 minute short or, as you say, one script but rather than a segment, they would each take one act of the same story...
ReplyDeleteActually, people may watch it if it's famous directors, but it would probably be the same demographic who like the anthology films like "Paris Je t'aime" and "New York, I love you" (I hope they don't just do this for every single city in the world!)
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should try it out as a class when we get back!
Yeah maybe we should, and it could be called: "Glasgow, ah waant tae shag ye!"
ReplyDelete