Known for Directing
Lars von Trier (born Lars Trier; 30 April 1956) is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches. He is known for his female-centric parables and his exploration of controversial subject matter. Von Trier began making his own films at the age of 11 after receiving a Super-8 camera as a gift, and his first publicly released film was an experimental short called The Orchid Gardener, in 1977. His first feature film came seven years later, The Element of Crime, in 1984. As of 2010, he has directed a further 10 feature films, 5 short films and 4 television productions. He has been married twice and is currently married to Bente Frøge. Von Trier suffers periodically from depression, as well as various fears and phobias, including an intense fear of flying. As he himself once put it, "Basically, I'm afraid of everything in life, except filmmaking".
Born
April 30, 1956 (age 70)
Birthplace
Copenhagen, Denmark
Filmography
148 films, 15 shows


The House That Jack Built
2018 · 2h 32m · DK
Failed architect, engineer and vicious murderer Jack narrates the details of some of his most elaborately orchestrated crimes, each of them a towering piece of art that defines his life's work as a serial killer for twelve years.


Nymphomaniac: Vol. II
2013 · 2h 4m · DK
The continuation of Joe's sexually dictated life delves into the darker aspects of her adult life and what led to her being in Seligman's care.


Nymphomaniac: Vol. I
2013 · 1h 58m · DE
A man named Seligman finds a fainted wounded woman in an alley and he brings her home. She tells him that her name is Joe and that she is nymphomaniac. Joe tells her life and sexual experiences with hundreds of men since she was a young teenager while Seligman tells about his hobbies, such as fly fishing, reading about Fibonacci numbers or listening to organ music.


Melancholia
2011 · 2h 16m · DK
Two sisters find their already strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide with Earth.


Dimension
2010 · 27m · DK
A poetic gangster story and a thriller about the passage of time. Recorded between 1991 and 1997 but released in 2010; von Trier's long-running project was to premiere in 2024, but production was halted.


Antichrist
2009 · 1h 44m · DK
A grieving couple retreats to their cabin 'Eden' in the woods, hoping to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage. But nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse.


To Each His Own Cinema
2007 · 1h 40m · FR
Commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, "To Each His Own Cinema" brought together 33 of the world's pre-eminent filmmakers to produce short pieces exploring the multifarious facets of cinema and their perspective on the state of their chosen artform in the early 21st century.


Cinema 16: European Short Films (U.S. Edition)
2007 · 3h 38m
A collection of short films by 16 European directors.


The Boss of It All
2006 · 1h 39m · DK
The owner of an IT firm wants to sell his business for profit; however, when he started his firm, he invented a nonexistent president to hide behind when unpopular steps needed to be taken. When potential purchasers insist on negotiating with 'The Boss' face to face, the owner hires a failed actor to play the part.


Cinema 16: European Short Films (European Edition)
2006 · 3h 30m
A collection of short films by 16 European directors.


Le court des grands
2005 · 3h 23m · FR
A program of debut shorts from some of cinema's greatest diectors. Curated by Emir Kusturica and Stephen Frears, featured auteurs include George Lucas' "1.42.08 to Qualify" (1966), Ridley Scott's "A Boy and a Bicycle" (1965), Robert Zemeckis' "The Lift" (1972), Tony Scott's "One of the Missing" (1969), Kusturica's "Guernica" (1978), Luc Besson's "L'avant dernier" (1981), Lars von Trier's "Nocturne" (1980), Terry Gilliam's "Storytime" (1968), Paul Verhoeven's "A Lizzard Too Much" (1960), Roman Polanski's "Le gros et le maigre" (1960), Jane Campion's "Peel" (1982), and Frears' "The Burning" (1967).


Manderlay
2005 · 2h 18m · DK
In 1933, a young woman and her father discover an Alabama plantation whose inhabitants live as if slavery had never been abolished. Feeling a sense of duty to those behind the heavy gates, she stays to liberate the people and see them through their first harvest. With four of her father's colleagues and a lawyer, she faces the daunting task of resurrecting the place known as Manderlay.


Dogville: The Pilot
2003 · 15m · DK
Dogville: The Pilot was shot during 2001 in the pre-production phase to test whether the concept of chalk lines and sparse scenery would work. The 15-minute pilot film starred Danish actors Sidse Babett Knudsen (as Grace) and Nikolaj Lie Kaas (as Tom).


The Five Obstructions
2003 · 1h 28m · BE
In 1967, experimental filmmaker Jorgen Leth created a striking short film, The Perfect Human, starring a man and women sitting in a box while a narrator poses questions about their relationship and humanity. Years later, Danish director Lars von Trier made a deal with Leth to remake his film five times, each under a different set of circumstances and with von Trier's strictly prescribed rules. As Leth completes each challenge, von Trier creates increasingly further elaborate stipulations.


Dogville
2003 · 2h 58m · DK
A woman on the run from the mob is reluctantly accepted in a small Colorado community in exchange for labor, but when a search visits the town, she learns that their support has a price.


Dancer in the Dark
2000 · 2h 20m · DK
Selma, a Czech immigrant on the verge of blindness, struggles to make ends meet for herself and her young son, who has inherited the same genetic disorder and will suffer the same fate without an expensive operation. When life becomes increasingly difficult, Selma learns to cope through her love of musicals, dreaming up little numbers to the rhythmic beats of her surroundings.


D-Day
2000 · 1h 5m · DK
Four people plan to rob a bank on new year's eve, when no one will notice because of the celebrations.


The Kingdom II
1998 · 4h 40m · BE
The mutant fetus is born. Dr. Helmer comes under heavy scrutiny for a botched operation that left a patient braindead, and begins to dabble in the dark arts in order to ward off those seeking an end to his career. Hypochondriac Mrs. Drusse finally does have something bad happen to her medically when an ambulance hits her.


The Idiots
1998 · 1h 50m · DK
A group of perfectly intelligent young people decide to react to society's cult of aimless, non-creative and non-responsible form intellect by living together in a community of 'idiots'. Their primary activity becomes going out into the world of 'normal' people and pretending to be mentally incompetent. They take advantage of this situation to create anarchy, and, by every possible means, to make those around them miserable.


Breaking the Waves
1996 · 2h 39m · DK
In a small, conservative Scottish village, an oilman is paralyzed in an accident. His wife, who prayed for his return, feels guilty; even more, when he urges her to have sex with another.


The Kingdom
1994 · 4h 35m · DK
At The Kingdom, Denmark's most technologically advanced hospital, a number of strange and otherworldly events begin occurring, much to the dismay of its doctors and patients. A ghostly ambulance appears and disappears, the voice of a little girl calls to a patient in an elevator shaft, and a doctor's fetus begins growing at an alarming rate.


Europa
1991 · 1h 53m · DK
In 1945 Germany, following the end of World War II, Leopold Kessler, an American of German descent, is hired by his uncle as a sleeping car conductor on the Zentropa train line. Leopold's wish is to be neutral to the ongoing purges of loyalists by Allied forces and do what he can to help a hurting country, but ultimately finds himself being used by both sides.


Medea
1989 · 1h 16m · DK
Medea after having helped the man she loves, Jason, and given him to birth two children, is driven into fury and vengeful madness after he decides to abandon her to become successor to the throne by marring Glauce, the daughter of Creon, king of Corinth.


Epidemic
1987 · 1h 46m · DK
A filmmaker and a writer collaborate on a screenplay, in which an epidemic spreads about the whole world. Like the protagonist, they do not notice, that a real epidemic is developing around them.


Sauna
1986 · 1m
A risqué TV commercial directed by Lars von Trier for Ekstra Bladet. (Danish tabloid paper)


The Element of Crime
1984 · 1h 44m · DK
Fisher, an ex-detective, decides to take one final case when a mysterious serial killer claims the lives of several young girls. Fisher, unable to find the culprit, turns to Osbourne, a writer who was once respected for his contributions to the field of criminology. Fisher begins to use Osbourne's technique, which involves empathizing with serial killers; however, as the detective becomes increasingly engrossed in this method, things take a disturbing turn.


Images of Liberation
1982 · 52m · DK
A German officer visits his Danish mistress after the occupation of Denmark has ended.


Nocturne
1980 · 8m · DK
It's night. Perhaps after a dream of an intruder crashing through a window, a woman who's sensitive to light has a telephone conversation with a friend. The woman has a plane ticket from Copenhagen to Buenos Aires at 6 that morning. She doesn't want to go. Her friend encourages her to make the trip. Later, she stands in a car park with her suitcase. Flying geese fill the screen.


Menthe: The Benefactor
1979 · 31m · DK
A Parisian woman willingly submits herself to a secret society, exploring total psychological and physical surrender as an extreme form of devotion, transcendence, and erotic obsession.


The Orchid Gardener
1977 · 35m · DK
A young Jewish artist has shunned his heritage. Upon the realization that he is alone, doubting humanity's willingness to extend help to one another, he has been referred to as a wimp, subsequently resulting in a fear of weakness and being incapable.


A Flower
1971 · 8m · DK
A boy grows a seed into a flower while the world around him marches on.
Why Try to Escape from That Which You Know You Can't Escape From? Because You Are a Coward
Why Try to Escape from That Which You Know You Can't Escape From? Because You Are a Coward
1970 · 8m · DK
A man is being haunted by a masked stranger. The only language used in the movie comes from three (inter) title cards and a few sentences of sermon-like talk in Danish. Some of the talk is modified citations from the bible and similar sources.


Good Night, Dear
1968 · 2m · DK
Lars von Trier himself has one of the lead roles in this short film about a bank employee being subjected to a brutal robbery.


The Trip to Squash Land
1967 · 2m · DK
The earliest recognized film by Lars Trier (made in his youth before he adopted the "von") is this stop motion cartoon, where a super-sausage saves a bunny.