The Idiots

R

Released May 30, 1998

1h 55m

Comedy

Drama

List

72%

32 Reviews

Tomatometer

78%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Karen (Bodil Jørgensen) is dining alone at a crowded restaurant when a group of people who seem to be mentally disabled enter and disrupt everyone's meal. Discerning that they are not what they seem, Karen returns with the group to the large communal house they inhabit with charismatic Stoffer (Jens Albinus). This group of intellectuals is attempting to challenge bourgeois ideology by behaving like "idiots" in public. Karen, however, may take the act further than any of them had planned.

Read More

Read Less

Critics Consensus

The Idiots feels more like an experiment than a coherent narrative, but director Lars von Trier's provocative style and rumination on civilization will leave most audience members feeling like satisfied test subjects.

Read Critics Reviews

Dani G

Is this a mock from Lars Von Trier? We know you're a transgressor and provocateur, but c'mon! Do something good at least

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

09/16/23

Full Review

David H

"The Idiots" sounds like a film about movie critics!

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

07/22/23

Full Review

Jens B

Es kostet schon etwas Überwindung, sich zwei Stunden lang dieser Dogma 95-Kacke (sorry, not sorry) auszuliefern. Doch so froh ich über von Triers Abkehr von seinem eigenen Manifest in den letzten Jahren bin, so wundervoll ist doch "Idioten". Die Geschichte ist simpel: Eine Gruppe junger Menschen tut so als wäre sie geistig eingeschränkt. Fertig. Die Zwischen- und Untertöne, die sich aus diesem Setup ergeben sind allerdings erstaunlich feinsinnig (beste Szene: die potenzielle Käuferin des Hauses). Mehrfach hält der Film dem Publikum den Spiegel vor und viele Dinge, die in diesem Film gesagt werden, habe ich genauso während meiner Zeit bei der Lebenshilfe erlebt. Der Film funktioniert also auf mehreren Ebenen, ist erstaunlich lustig und einfühlsam, provoziert genau im richtigen Maß und spricht sehr verschiedene Wahrheiten für unterschiedliche Teile des Publikums aus. Ein bisschen zu lang ist er trotzdem.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

11/09/22

Full Review

Arthur L

Through the first watch the beginning part of the film can be quite annoying though the further you get the greater it gets and the finale - touching and emotional.Von Trier is a master.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

10/27/22

Full Review

william d

There was a nice little twist at the end that almost justifies the previous 100 minutes. Almost, but not quite.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

William L

"If you could see things differently you might see the beauty of them ... obviously an outsider can't see what it means." It seems like those lines could very easily have been von Trier's own as he explains his entire style - inventive, original, strange for its own sake, and more than a little pretentious. The least popular and most divisive of the director's 'Golden Heart' trilogy, and perhaps his entire filmography, The Idiots seems like a good encapsulation of von Trier's tendency to make movies unlike anything that you have seen before, but by pushing boundaries in directions that are ultimately unnecessary, unrewarding, and have had little if any emulation by other mainstream filmmakers. This is one of the more shock value-heavy von Trier films, but it feels less like it was intended to have any thematic depth than it was simply a means to generate controversy and awards-season buzz. That said, von Trier knows how to cast and to elicit strong performances from his actors, even if he places them into some rather strange overarching narratives that feel like rough drafts from edgy film-school screenwriters. Additionally, The Idiots feels far more relevant to the visual style of the Dogma 95 'manifesto' than many others, it's reaction-based and almost reality show-esque plot delivering much more of an authentic feel, far more so than the surrealist exuberance of Dancers in the Dark. But then I remember that The Idiots opens with a literal signed certificate attesting to the film's adherence to the tenets of von Trier's pure, high-minded shaky-cam style, and it brings me back to earth. (2/5)

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

12/19/21

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

Lars von Trier

Director

Jens Albinus

Stoffer

Anne Louise Hassing

Susanne

Bodil Jørgensen

Karen

Nikolaj Lie Kaas

Jeppe

Troels Lyby

Henrik

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

90%

89%

Together

56%

66%

Chicago Cab

85%

43%

Bad Manners

29%

25%

Free Money

85%

91%

Elling

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

RT Interview: Lars von Trier on Antichrist

View more photos

Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

The Idiots works as a situationist provocation about a situationist provocation, though claiming the sentimental high ground at the end.

Rated: 3/5

Aug 16, 2023

Full Review

Globe and Mail

Rated: 3/4

Mar 19, 2002

Full Review

Kevin Thomas

Los Angeles Times

The Idiots suggests that if Danish iconoclast Lars von Trier's filmsare getting tougher, they're also continuing to reward the patient.

Rated: 3.5/5

Feb 14, 2001

Full Review

Gilbert Adair

Independent on Sunday

Not everyone's cup of tea and, indeed, not a cup of tea at all, but one of those extremely rare films that aren't content to leave the cinema as they found it.

Nov 27, 2017

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

The first Dogme film of enfant terrible Lars von Trier challenges viewers to reexamine their social mores and cinema habits of voyeurism and pleasure.

Rated: B

Jul 16, 2009

Full Review

Film Threat

Rated: 5/5

Dec 6, 2005

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

Karen (Bodil Jørgensen) is dining alone at a crowded restaurant when a group of people who seem to be mentally disabled enter and disrupt everyone's meal. Discerning that they are not what they seem, Karen returns with the group to the large communal house they inhabit with charismatic Stoffer (Jens Albinus). This group of intellectuals is attempting to challenge bourgeois ideology by behaving like "idiots" in public. Karen, however, may take the act further than any of them had planned.

Director: Lars von Trier
Producer: Svend Abrahamsen, Dag Alveberg, Peter Aalbæk Jensen
Screenwriter: Lars von Trier
Distributor: USA Films, Buena Vista Pictures
Production Co: Zentropa Entertainments
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: Danish
Release Date (Theaters): May 30, 1998, Original
Release Date (DVD): Jul 27, 2004
Box Office (Gross USA): $7.2K
Runtime: 1h 55m
Sound Mix: Dolby SR, Surround