Europe as Utopia and Dystopia in the Films of Jean-Luc Godard and Lars von Trier

Abstract

AbstractThe article examines which conception of “Europa” can be observed in selected films and to which precursors these can be related in the history of art, film and literature. The two films, Jean-Luc Godard’s “Passion” from 1982 on the one hand and Lars von Trier’s “Europa” from 1991 on the other, serve as extreme poles. In Godard’s film, the focus is on a Polish director who attempts to interpret a series of masterpieces from European art history in the medium of the film, but fails in the process. A special role is assigned to Rembrandt’s “Night Watch,” which proves to be not only the aesthetic ideal that Godard’s film follows, but also the foil against which the other restaged paintings are to be viewed: “Passion” thus follows a tradition according to which Europe can be seen as a “concordia discors,” a harmony constituted by a multitude of divergent voices. This utopia formulated in this way is diametrically opposed by Lars von Trier’s film, which, with reference to European and American models from literature and film, sketches a dystopia in which Europe is both the source and the scene of violent confrontations between various powers and interests to which individuals fall victim.