Synopsis
A young, idealist American gets a job as a train conductor for the Zentropa railway network in postwar, US-occupied Frankfurt. As various people try to take advantage of him, he soon finds his position politically sensitive, and gets caught up in a whirlpool of conspiracies and Nazi sympathisers.
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Cast
- Jean-Marc BarrLeopold Kessler
- Barbara SukowaKatharina Hartmann
- Udo KierLawrence Hartmann
- Ernst-Hugo JäregårdUncle Kessler
- Erik MørkPater
- Jørgen ReenbergMax Hartmann
- Henning JensenSiggy
- Eddie ConstantineColonel Harris
- Max von SydowNarrator (voice)
- Benny PoulsenSteleman
Recommendations
- 80
Washington Post
At once retro and futuristic, the hyperstylized film recalls every wartime-era espionage/romance/noir flick, and in particular owes a debt to Lynch's Eraserhead, with its shadowy industrial backgrounds and throbbing soundtrack. - 80
Empire
Labyrintine and hypnotic, there's undoubtedly more style than substance to the film, but Von Trier manages to blind and bewilder his audience in a truly masterful manner. - 80
The New York Times
Although the actual story of Zentropa is the stuff of an ordinary thriller, that plot is the only conventional aspect of a film that is an almost impudently flashy and knowing exercise in post-modern cinematic expressionism. - 78
Austin Chronicle
In the end, Zentropa is above all unique in its radical take on the inherent confusion of postwar Europe, offering the viewer a glimpse like none he has had before. - 75
Chicago Sun-Times
The film is too confusing to be successful, but too striking and visually beautiful to be ignored. - 75
Washington Post
It's an obscure experience, partly alienating, partly enthralling; it weaves a spell that is frightening, irritating and invigorating all at once. - 75
The A.V. Club
Europa has been described as a Kafka-esque fever dream, and while that isn't inaccurate, it's also a cover for the film's confounding narrative, which wends through murky noir plotting, a polyglot of accents and performance styles, and surreal interludes. The best approach is not to puzzle too much over the details, and to marvel at von Trier's technical wizardry, which re-imagines the period through a patchwork of vivid impressions. - 50
Slant Magazine
Von Trier and his three cinematographers fashioned a handmade, retro pastiche with a small, dried-out heart.
