The Five Obstructions
Director Jorgen Leth
Countries Denmark
Duration 87 min
Synopsis
In 1967, Jørgen Leth made a short film called "The Perfect Human", a document on human behavior containing the familiar Leth themes – a film which Trier admires greatly and claims to have seen 20 times. In 2000, Lars Von Trier throws down a challenge: Jørgen Leth has to make 5 remakes of this film, but each time Trier will put forward obstructions, constraining Leth to re-think the story and the characters of the original film. Playing the naive anthropologist, Leth attempts to embrace the cunning challenges set forth by the devious and sneaky Trier. Five times Leth will have to deal with the limitations, commands and prohibitions made by Trier. It is a game full of traps and vicious turns. A fascinating and never seen before film about a filmmaker not only revisiting, but also recreating one of his first films. "The Five Obstructions" is an investigative journey into the phenomenon of filmmaking.
In 1967, Jørgen Leth made a short film called "The Perfect Human", a document on human behavior containing the familiar Leth themes – a film which Trier admires greatly and claims to have seen 20 times. In 2000, Lars Von Trier throws down a challenge: Jørgen Leth has to make 5 remakes of this film, but each time Trier will put forward obstructions, constraining Leth to re-think the story and the characters of the original film. Playing the naive anthropologist, Leth attempts to embrace the cunning challenges set forth by the devious and sneaky Trier. Five times Leth will have to deal with the limitations, commands and prohibitions made by Trier. It is a game full of traps and vicious turns. A fascinating and never seen before film about a filmmaker not only revisiting, but also recreating one of his first films. "The Five Obstructions" is an investigative journey into the phenomenon of filmmaking.