The Element of Crime Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

The Element of Crime Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 25, 2023

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Lars von Trier's Europe Trilogy from The Criterion Collection.

If one is to believe the frequently questionable information offered by Wikipedia, there are well over one hundred films that have something to do with hypnosis, including probably unsurprising entries ranging from Svengali to The Three Faces of Eve to The Manchurian Candidate, but also (somewhat hilariously, at least to me) perhaps slightly less expected offerings like Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School. Kind of interestingly in that regard and vis a vis the rather broad gamut of films that feature some kind of depiction of the technique, hypnosis can be portrayed as either the tool of someone nefarious (Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler ) or alternatively as a long sought after cure for some kind of mental dysfunction (Spellbound). Wikipedia's list of films about hypnosis kind of strangely only includes the first of Lars von Trier's so-called Europe Trilogy, namely The Element of Crime, but hypnosis is at least alluded to in all three films, and all three arguably offer a "middle ground" in terms of depicting hypnotism as both a cure and a potential threat. If hypnotism itself might be thought of as getting subjects into a kind of "limbo" state somewhere between wakefulness and sleeping, von Trier's trilogy is also a dreamscape (or nightmare-scape, as the case may be) where reality and illusion are often seemingly interchangeable.

Hypnosis is pretty much on tap from the get go in The Epidemic of Crime, a fascinating if seemingly intentionally perplexing quasi-detective story that at least subtextually has tethers to films also involving amnesia, as rather interestingly is the case with both the aforementioned Spellbound and The Manchurian Candidate. In this particular instance, an expat private investigator named Fisher (Michael Elphick) is hypnotized in order to aid his memory of an enigmatic case which seems to have taken place in a decidedly dystopian Europe. The film's emphasis on what might be called a first person perspective almost instantly means that lines between what is supposedly "really" going on and what is taking place in Fisher's addled hypnotized mind become rather aggressively blurred.

This is an absolutely audacious debut film, one that has a very distinctive style, including its almost obsessive use of yellows, which give everything a jaundiced, unreal and downright sickly appearance. The yellow here almost serves as an analogue to sepia toned "black and white" feature, since pops of what might be termed actual color are rare (see the hotel sign in screenshot 8 for one example). The mise en scène is frequently jaw dropping as well, and both framings and what's inside the frame is unabashedly hallucinogenic a lot of the time.

The Element of Crime Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Criterion's insert booklet lumps the three films together in its relatively minimal descriptions of the restorations, as follows:

The Element of Crime is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.89:1 [note: our aspect ratio measuring tool is actually showing 1.90:1, a probably imperceptible difference]. This digital transfer was created in 3K resolution on an Arriscan film scanner from the 16 mm original camera negative. Epidemic is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1. This digital transfer was created on an Arriscan film scanner and restored in 3K resolution from the 16 mm original camera negative. Europa is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1. This digital transfer was created on an Arriscan film scanner and restored in 4K resolution from the 35 mm original camera negative. The restorations of all three films were undertaken by Zentropa and approved by director Lars von Trier.

As can be easily seen in the screenshots accompanying this review, and as mentioned above, large swaths of The Element of Crime are awash in yellows, with "awash" being a salient term also because so much water imagery is utilized. The ubiquitous yellow grading combined with the smaller format source as well as the film's deliberately hazy, dreamlike ambience can all lead to less than fulsome fine detail levels in midrange and wide shots in particular, but as can be seen in some of the screenshots of close-ups I've uploaded to the review, those moments have rather nice detail levels, even if a certain inherent softness can still pervade the imagery. Large portions of the film play out in relative darkness, with rather deep blacks despite the yellowing, to the point that shadow detail can be minimal at times.

The Element of Crime Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Element of Crime boasts an effective if narrow LPCM Mono track in English. The sound design is as layered as the visual sensibility, but commendably things are prioritized well, and even scenes with overlapping dialogue, ambient environmental effects and an elegiac string score offer no real hurdles to listenability or clear reproduction. Dialogue is rendered without any problems. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Element of Crime Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary 1 features Lars von Trier, film and sound editor Tomas Gislason and cinematographer Tomas Gislason and stems from 2005. Subtitled in English.


• Commentary 2 , also from 2005, features film scholar Peter Schepelern and critic Stig Bjorkman. Subtitled in English.


• Tranceformer: A Portrait of Lars von Trier (HD; 53:56) features Stig Bjorkman interviewing von Trier. Subtitled in English.


• Storyboarding The Element of Crime (HD; 11:07) features a 2005 interview with Tom Elling. Subtitled in English.


• Ennenstadt Europa - The Making of The Element of Crime (HD; 30:23) is a 1984 documentary. Subtitled in English.


• Anecdotes from The Element of Crime (HD; 19:17) is another 2005 production featuring a number of interviews with several of the people mentioned in other supplements above, as well as several other crew members. Subtitled in English.


• Nocturne (HD; 8:50 is an experimental short by von Trier made when he was a student.


• Images of Liberation (HD; 51:57) is von Trier's graduation film made for the National Film School of Denmark.


• Trailer (HD; 2:12)

The Element of Crime Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is an astounding first feature, even if it has some "unruly" aspects that may make it seem like something it is: an audacious debut by a gifted student recently out of film school. The imagery is baroque and seemingly designed to bypass the rational mind to appeal directly to the Id, and as such it may overwhelm a story that is undeniably opaque to begin with. Technical merits are generally solid and the bonus content outstanding. Recommended.