This film succeeds on so many levels.

It’s formal construction emphasizes the honest and powerful performances LvT was able to extract and provoke from an amazing cast. Whatever narrative, structural inconsistencies that may exist are more than balanced by the film’s conceptual strength. Personally, I think it works best as a searing class critique, but I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll leave it there.

I much prefer it to Dancer in the Dark.