The Lars von Trier Conversations – Volume Two

About the Art of Filmmaking, Editing, Cinematography, Special Effect, New Media, Writing, and Directing Conversations with Molly Malene Stensgaard, Manuel Alberto Claro, Peter Hjorth, and Lars von Trier

Georg Tiefenbach

• Publisher: Königshausen u. Neumann
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9783826090424
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Index: Social Sciences

»Talking intensively with people about films and cinema means searching for something that you have only guessed at.« In 2021 and 2022, Georg Tiefenbach continued the conversations about Lars von Trier's films with editor Molly Malene Stensgaard, cinematographer Manuel Alberto Claro, special effect artist Peter Hjorth, and writer and director Lars von Trier. Trier's films are always about four great mysteries: Life, love, suffering, and death. Throughout his oeuvre, Trier has experimented with a wide range of creative possibilities from naturalism to abstraction to romanticism and symbolism. His personal fears, which are numerous and varied, have never prevented him from confronting the big questions of life in his films. On the contrary, they have driven him to pursue them in his art. His stories deal with the existential crises of consciousness, identity, trust, and faith. He neither denies fears and longings, nor does he glorify them. From this point of view, Melancholia turns out to be one of Trier's most personal films. These conversations are about the film Melancholia and the entire oeuvre, about the craft and secrets of filmmaking, and above all about cinema as an aesthetic experience. Practice should be understood theoretically, and theory should be practically applicable, theory and practice embracing each other. Arts and science mean mutual enrichment.

Table of contents

• Frontmatter
• PREFACE
• CONVERSATION WITH EDITOR MOLLY MALENE STENSGAARD
• About Lars, Actors and Actresses, and Peter Hjorth
• Living under Modern World Norms and Circumstances. Longing and Promiscuity
• Compassion: The Image of the Carving Boy. The Burning Tree and the Catastrophe
• About Drastic Scenes and Editing Nymphomaniac
• About the Press Conference in Cannes, Exploring Evil, and the Director’s Name as a Label
• Editing the Images and the Music of the Overture of Melancholia. About Tristan and Isolde
• Troubled Souls and Female Sexuality
• Symbolism and the Longing for Nature. Cultural Memory and the Literature by Marcel Proust
• Paintings as References. Storytelling, Expectations, and Emotions
• About Genre, Acting, Beauty, and Death
• CONVERSATION WITH CINEMATOGRAPHER MANUEL ALBERTO CLARO
• Immersive Media, Cinema, and Gaming
• Feelings and Emotions
• The Collective Memory. The Press Conference in Cannes, Fascination with Evil and Self-Righteousness
• New Genres within Cinema, Exploring Storytelling, and the Aesthetics of Cinema
• Symbolism: The St. Elmo’s Fire and the Garden. Tradition, Inspiration, and Homage
• The Iconic Image of the Mother with the Child and Artificiality
• The Contrast of Beauty and Agony, of Inside and Outside. The Burning Tree
• Colors and Their Impact on Feelings and Emotions
• Equipment. Daylight and Artificial Light. Focal Length, Depth of Field, and Lens Speed
• Magnetism of Faces and Actors. Spaces and Light. Intuition and Control
• Cinematography and Special Effects. Butterflies and Ophelia. Wagner Moments
• The Loving Eye and Taste. Framing and Pointing. Working with Lars and the Actors
• Awards, the Beauty of Melancholia, Living Paintings, and the Ugliness of Nymphomaniac
• Still Photography, Art, and Portrait. The Danish Film School, Cinematographers and Directors
• CONVERSATION WITH SPECIAL EFFECTS SUPERVISOR PETER HJORTH
• The Director’s Cut of Nymphomaniac, Delacroix, and the Ending of The House That Jack Built
• Artificial Intelligence, the Press Conference in Cannes, Social Media, and Bruno Ganz
• The Last Scene of Melancholia. Remembering, Dreaming, and Cinematic Experience
• The Telescope and Butterflies. About Mutual Trust
• The Aesthetics of Beauty. Paintings on the Screen
• Bodies and Movement in Space. Simulation and Symbolism
• Böcklin’s Garden and The Hunters in the Snow. About Mannerism, Eclecticism, and Conventions
• Storytelling, Music, and the Direct Look into the Camera Lens
• About the Special Effects Department, First and Second Unit, and the Editing Process
• About Meeting Lars von Trier and Working Processes. Automavision. Slow-Motion Sequences
• Rules of the Game, Framework, and Creating a System. Abstraction and the 180-Degree Rule
• Visual Effects Supervision and Communication. Style and Conceptualization
• Working with Special Effects, Multiple Cameras, Randomness, and Non-Linear Perspectives
• CONVERSATION WITH WRITER AND DIRECTOR LARS VON TRIER
• ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNERS
• About Practice and Theory, Art and Science. ‘Love Your Darlings!’
• Mannerist Bodies as an Expression of the Crisis of Faith
• Cinema in the Age of Social Media and Artificial Intelligence. Provocation and Evocation
• Humor, Manipulation, and Mastering Magic Tricks
• Fascination with Evil and Moral Self-Righteousness
• About Drastic Scenes and Censorship. The Press Conference of Melancholia in Cannes
• On Dramaturgy and Breaking Traditional Rules, Ibsen versus Strindberg. Memories of Bruno Ganz
• Thoughts on Wisdom and Fear, Life and Death. Nature and Fate
• About Screenwriting and Writing Melancholia. On the Relationship of the Atheist to God
• Thoughts and Feelings of Our Time. Anxieties and Longings
• Slow-Motion and Music. Antonioni’s The Night
• Wagner’s Influence and Memories of Bayreuth
• About Melancholia, Tristan and Isolde, and Marcel Proust
• On Genre and Style. About Andrei Tarkovsky
• Exploring the Medium and Perception. The Time Cut and the Freedom of Montage and Directing
• About Actors, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Kirsten Dunst
• About Directors and Their Crew, the Beginnings of Filmmaking, and Film as a Field of Experimentation
• Backmatter