3,008 Ratings

Europa

Denmark, Spain, 1991

Drama, History, Avant-Garde

Synopsis

American pacifist (and naive) Leopold Kessler stumbles into a job as a sleeping-car conductor for the Zentropa railways in a Kafkaesque 1945 postwar Frankfurt, where he gets caught in a whirlpool of conspiracies and Nazi sympathisers. A runaway-train ride to an oddly futuristic past.

Europa Directed by Lars von Trier

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Awards & Festivals

Cannes Film Festival

1991 | 3 wins including: Best Artistic Contribution

1991 | Nominee: Palme d'Or

International Film Festival Rotterdam

1992

São Paulo International Film Festival

2018

European Film Awards

1992 | 2 nominations including: European Actress of the Year

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Cast & Crew

Critics reviews

[Zentropa] addresses so many fundamental contemporary questions about postmodernism, language, colonialism, the Common Market, coproduction, the future of European cinema, and our collective memory of World War II that one may feel a mite churlish pointing out that its technique ultimately overwhelms the themes and characters. After all, exercices de styleworthy of the name are not exactly plentiful these days, and Zentropa is an especially dazzling example…

Jonathan Rosenbaum

July 03, 1992

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What are people saying?

Bogomil Gospodinov's rating of the film Europa
Bogomil Gospodinov

Early Trier is so much better than the rest of it. Barbara Sukowa is a great plus for the movie.
April 07, 2019 02:03
- 3
- 0
Yaaatoob's rating of the film Europa
Yaaatoob

The plot is a standard thriller affair wrapped in allegory, with characters, music and cinematography deeply recalling film noir, but it's through Lars von Trier's wonderful cinematic technique that Europa becomes something truly unique. The story offers no surprises, everything is foreshadowed and hinted at, but via von Trier's manipulation those scenes remarkably lose none of their impact.
January 24, 2019 16:00
- 4
- 0
smndvdcl's rating of the film Europa
smndvdcl

File under: obnoxious genius. When there is so much obnoxious mediocrity in media and film, there is still room for the iconoclastic likes of LVT. While he would never be more than an acquaintance if I knew him (unresolved issues remain), goddammit he knows how to make a cinematic masterpiece or seven.
January 24, 2019 19:06
- 2
- 0
Matthew Martens's rating of the film Europa
Matthew Martens

Beginning and ending in a manner strikingly similar to von Trier's first feature film, The Element of Crime -- a return to Europe, orchestrated by a hypnotic framing device, leads at length to the expression of a desperate, hopeless desire to escape from Europe (now synonymous with human venality) -- Europa is a less delirious feat of cinematic imagination than its predecessor, but it still draws (in) cold blood.
February 02, 2014 02:55
- 1
- 0
HEDONIST's rating of the film Europa
HEDONIST

I cannot even begin to say how pleasantly surprised I was with this film. I feel I understand Von Trier on a much deeper level as an artist and really, I feel as though I should have started with this film before I watched ANTICHRIST and MELANCHOLIA. From the unique style, to the compelling plot, to the masterful camera movement, this is a film that truly embraces the art in cinema. Invigorating.
January 24, 2019 17:17
- 4
- 0
Zachary George Najarian-Najafi's rating of the film Europa
Zachary George Najarian-Najafi

A beautiful nightmare full of striking imagery. This film is a unique experience to the core and is akin to The Third Man but on acid. However where it shines and succeeds where other "weird" films fail is that it remains grounded in some humanity and beauty, and surprisingly, despite all of the stylistic and narrative flourishes it isn't that pretentious. A masterpiece from a director I need to get to know.
January 24, 2019 16:04
- 4
- 0
Wee Hunk's rating of the film Europa
Wee Hunk

The pure technical brilliance of this film just shows he was at the top of his game before deciding to do Dogme. Also, it is a good film.
November 30, 2015 02:48
- 2
- 0
Max Seqgar's rating of the film Europa
Max Seqgar

Had long wished to see this movie, and it was an absolutely visual & intellectual pleasure (as all Von Trier's, but this one has a visual something that is not in any other of his films). Excellent!
December 14, 2014 14:27
- 1
- 0