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Five Obstructions Details

2003 Certificate 15
  • Rated:
  • 70
  • from 1102 members

About a filmmaker not only revisiting, but also recreating (not in a conventional sense) one of his first films, The Perfect Human / Det perfekte menneske (1967) Read more

Starring Claus Nissen, Majken Algren Nielsen, Jorgen Leth
Director Jorgen Leth, Lars Von Trier
Genres Drama, World Cinema

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Five Obstructions cover art

Five Obstructions

About a filmmaker not only revisiting, but also recreating (not in a conventional sense) one of his first films, The Perfect Human / Det perfekte menneske (1967)

Starring Claus Nissen, Majken Algren Nielsen, Jorgen Leth
Director Jorgen Leth, Lars Von Trier
Studio DRAKES AVENUE PICTURES
Run time DVD: 1 hr 28 mins
Certificate Certificate 15
Genres Drama, World Cinema
Language DVD: Danish
Subtitles DVD: English
Released DVD: 20 Sep 2004
Production year: 2003
Format DVD

  • Critics' reviews (2) of Five Obstructions

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  • 4 stars out of 5

    In 1967, the Danish director Jorgen Leth made a short film called The Perfect Human, in which the behaviour patterns of Claus Nissen and Maiken Algren were analysed as though they were lab specimens. Over 30 years later, Lars von Trier — clearly still amused by the restrictive approach imposed by his Dogme 95 experiment — challenged his mentor to remake his award-winning film, only to constantly find ways of hindering its progress. This is not only a fascinating insight into the cinematic process, but also a tribute to Leth's directorial ingenuity, as he endeavours to complete three live-action and one animated variation on his intriguing theme.

    • Radio Times
    • Posted 29 Jan 2006

  • In 1967, Jørgen Leth made The Perfect Human, a short anthropological comedy about a man in a room, which became a... read more on Time Out

    • Time Out
    • Posted 04 Nov 2008

  • Most helpful member's review of Five Obstructions

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  • 7 out of 7 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    Two directors playing cinematic ping-pong

    A fabulous insight into the workings of the minds of two top directors, Leth and Von Trier play a game of cat and mouse over a remake of Leth's original 'The Perfect Human Being' a black and white short film from the late 60's that influenced a generation of later Scandinavian film-makers. Of course, one can't remake anything, and of course, nothing is ever really original anyway, so to make thing interesting Von Trier trhows curve balls at Leth in his attempts at remaking the original gem (also on the DVD). Five short films later, you can draw your own conclusions. I absolutely LOVED it as a whole (two of the five shorts were just gems!)

      • Rory Aitken from Totnes, England
      • Posted 19 Mar 2005 16:21

  • Most recent members' review of Five Obstructions

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  • 5 out of 6 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 3 stars

    A near-perfect collaboration

    Lars von Trier is fascinated with rule-based filmmaking. From his back-to basics work as one of the Dogma group of Danish directors to the empty sound stage of Dogville, Trier has consistently utilized preordained constraints. In The Five Obstructions, von Trier sets the rules within which Jorgen Leth remakes his short (14-minute) film The Perfect Human (1967).

    The DVD contains the original version of Leth's The Perfect Human. I would recommend watching this before The Five Obstructions. Extracts of this austere black-and-white meditation appear throughout Jorgen and von Trier's film, along with segments of their conversations and shots of Leth overcoming the obstructions.

    Leth is clearly one of von Trier's heroes. This collaborative film shows why. One remake of The Perfect Human has the action switched to a Bombay street, while another occurs in an upmarket Brussels hotel. However, the obstructions presenting the biggest challenges to Leth produce the best remakes; namely the Cuban version, in which no shot can last more than 12 frames, and the cartoon interpretation. This intriguing film confirms that constraints can often be an aid to creativity.

      • steve69 from Herts.
      • Posted 18 Nov 2004 19:33

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      • About a filmmaker not only revisiting, but also recreating (not in a conventional sense) one of his first films, The Perfect Human / Det perfekte menneske (1967)...