User Reviews

It's very clear that Lars von Trier has a penchant for digging his nails into the festering wounds of the human psyche, which is almost invariably grist for the psychopathological mill. An asset of this film is that, in disarming the legend of Medea of its fantastic/mythical qualities, and thus "reducing" it to a story about a rejected woman who seeks revenge for the slight committed against her, it resonate a lot more with everyday experience, allowing it to shape itself according to our notion of reality. This can be terrifying, especially with the subject matter at hand. Some authors have argues that there is an infanticidal urge in all mothers, whether conscious or not (usually the latter). Those who act on it are usually portrayed as demonic and/or insane. This is a massive denial of the murderous tendencies present in all living creatures, a denial which seems necessary since it allows people to have some semblance of control over their minds and actions. But, given the right circumstances, the illusion is shattered, and a new balance needs to be reached. In the case of Medea, her narcissistic wound is too great to bear, yet the perpetrator cannot be attacked directly (for whatever reason). Her sexuality is rejected, thus she proceeds to destroy any evidence of his. She murders his bride-to-be as well as some of her family members. The epitome of her acts is the killing of her 2 children, which happens in a very matter-of-fact manner. The "intruder complex" can be felt in the mind of the eldest son, who gladly assists in killing the younger brother, pulling him down as he hangs helplessly from the tree. He thus fulfills his own unconscious wish of destroying his uterine rival. Her "psychogenic sterility" is accomplished, and she can depart. Again, the more realistic tones to the film are a huge asset.. she sits on a ship, waiting for the tide to carry them away... had the golden chariot of Helios, pulled by winged dragons, flown her away holding her dead sons with her, perhaps the impact wouldn't have stuck... score one for the director.

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

*Plot and ending analyzed*

Trier, who is at times an accomplished director, at others, a bloated buffoon, has an eye for great art. This film, which deals with the Greek mythology of Medea, who killed her children in order to appease the gods, is an artistic retelling of the event, from deep-colored shots of the ocean, to lens-filtered wind brushing against the actors' shade; this is all visual.

The film is quite utterly boring though, and thus, we are not at all interested in the development of sequences which Trier so meticulously arranges for us.

Udo Kier is surprisingly common in this adaptation, and by the end, we are glad that the screen is no longer filled with such blatant incoehesion.

Hardly ever a movie disturbed my emotions as much as Lars von Trier's Medea did. When I left the cinema I was unable to do anything for more than an hour but to think about the pictures I had seen and the tragic fate of Medea and her family. And that was not because I hadn't known the story before the screening but because of the paste and tone of the film as well as the superb acting of Kristin Olsen. I wonder if I can ever forget the scene when her older son gives her a robe to help her to complete her fatal task, or when the same boy goes after the younger one and brings him back so that he could be the object of their mother's revenge.

It is very sad that this Danish tv adaptation of this Greek play can hardly ever be seen. So film lovers in Budapest are really lucky that this year's Titanic Festival featured several films of Trier; including Breaking the Waves as well as Epidemic and Europe which also must be seen.

the taste of see water. the wind. the moves of ship, the point of wedding crown, the pain of Glauce, the revenge plan of Medea, the death of the boys, the desperation of Jason. metaphors as letters of a letter. and Euripides play , the Dreyer legacy, the art of Trier. like a circle. a Scandinavian Medea. preserving the flavors of the old Greece. the admirable performance of Kirsten Olsen. the special Jason of Udo Kier. and the salt air. a film to feel. like an experience. unique , remembering known scenes and symbols.

***SPOILERS***

My teacher forced my class to watch this movie, and boy was it dull. Half the class almost fell asleep while the rest actually did. Now people might call this art but I call it the movie equivalent to Chinese water torture.

Lars von Trier, I really hate him after seeing this movie by the way, has took some story out of Greek mythology and placed it in Denmark, and then continued by making it so insanely boring that you will want to go rampaging out in the streets.

The only reasons that I don't give it zero is because I can't and that the movie looks pretty good, is only 75 minutes long (even though it feels like 75 hours) and includes a pretty disturbing scene were Medea hangs here own children. That's really it.

I will never forgive my teacher for this.

*/****

Never before have I seen a movie, in which the link between human fate and nature, is so profoundly explored. From start to end, this compact and harrowing tragedy is enveloped in water, fog, wind and dirt. Every utterance and emotion of the characters are tied to a series of compelling naturalistic shots, conjured up by Trier's genius. The fluidity, precision, imagination and nerve of the images, makes the story resonate on a spiritual level. To me such beauty is beyond rational comprehension. I can just say that my heart raced throughout, and several scenes brought me to the brink of tears. Especially when the poisoned horse tears free and feverishly runs to its demise, in turn sealing Glauce's doom.

Medea will remain in my heart for the rest of my life. This truly is immortal art.

I greatly enjoyed this movie, though I must admit I at first had my doubts. One must remember the date of the film, and keep in mind that the format and visualizations are purposefully done. The grains and warm and cool tones are part of the portrait painted throughout this movie. Many scenes bring to mind what one may see standing in front of a masterpiece hung in a gallery. It is an emotional experience. True, it has moments where perhaps the viewer would like to skip through, such as a mundane shot of a marsh field or the bubbling of the water... but I must say that the scenes from the Queen's murder on (the last 15 minutes of the film) are worth seeing! Watching Medea hang her sons was heartbreaking, and portrayed in a very unique way for this story.

This is an adaptation of Euripides' play. It starts with Jason and his new wife, but on a very political tone: Creon is yielding power to Jason and to make it more powerful and official in this Greece moving towards hereditary kingship he gives him his daughter Glauce. But Creon requires – and orders – the banishment of Medea and her two sons. We all know what comes after that. Medea begging Creon for one day's suspension of his decision. Then the hypocritical change of mind with Jason that she seduces again but he reacts violently, after yielding to the desire, and yet accepts to convince Glauce to ask her father to keep the two children. He goes with them to give her a present: Medea's bridal crown. Glauce will die poisoned and Creon too. Then Medea will have to kill the two sons and go away. Told like that this fable is as simple as a cold draft in a heating deprived house in winter when it is snowing outside.

Lars von Trier in 1988 only had the very low definition of the television of these days in Denmark to make his film but he already had his brilliant both lethal and murderous imagination rooted in the war and the German defeat which is also the allies' victory. But Lars von Trier could never decide which was good and which was bad and he only saw the bad side of things.

In this film he modifies some elements to adapt them to this low definition television. The killing of the children is not spectacular with blood. He wants to have them there dead hanging in front of our shocked eyes in a long lasting full screen frame. So he has them hanged to the two branches of a totally dead tree. You can imagine the silhouette of these cadavers, these hanging bodies against the sky. That's more spectacular than some blood on a nightshirt. But that's too static, dead in a way. He wants life in his vision of death.

So Lars von Trier has to add something a lot more odious, repulsive. The younger boy runs away. The older boy gets him and brings him back and pulls on his leg to help him die faster on the rope that his mother had tied to the tree branch. On the following morning he asks his mother to help him. He ties the rope to the second tree branch, he puts the noose around his neck and she only has to let him go and pull slightly. The final embrace of the mother letting the child die hanged by that mutual desire shared in this final act is more than frightening. It is blood curdling and yet who is at fault, who is wrong somewhere? And during that time Jason is getting crazy.

Medea goes to a ship, waits for the tide. The sail is rolled down and she unties her hair and she goes away. No god, no divine intervention, no Deus ex Machina, just a plain ship going away from Greece probably to some distant country. Maybe Colchis after all.

But where is Euripides in all that? In the final caption on the screen: "A human life is a journey into the darkness where only a God can find the way for what no man dares believe God can bring about." Finally a reference to God but this final caption means nothing and yet so much. That's in fact the vision of Lars von Trier about humanity. He cannot bring man out of this darkness of the cataclysmic war and the ruined Europe and the viciously hypocritical people from both sides who have to save what they can in order to get some kind of revenge, not to speak of vengeance. Lars von Trier has a totally morbid and death-bound understanding of life, though understanding is not the proper word. It should be ignorance, and yet he knows too much, so what? Errant banishment from any over-lording understating understanding! That might be it. He sure wants us to somewhere believe we understand Medea in her suffering, but in fact he probably just wants us to wonder where can she find any haven, refuge, sanctuary with a condescending and understanding God. And if it were a Goddess? Hecate for example? But that's beyond Lars von Trier. A Godless world is his final affiliation and conviction – and the sentence will be unsuspended.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU