Tranceformer - A Portrait of Lars von Trier Page #2

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as I was in junior school.

It's a lot for little kid

to decide for himself,

if he feels like

going to school or not.

So that's why he left when

he was still at school

and sat drinking white wine on

a wooden raft instead of studying.

Lars continues to make films.

He writes, directs

films, acts...

I don't believe

in the school system.

I believe in the workshop system.

and above all in experience,

which I gained

from the 8 mm films I made

and later the 16 mm films I made

when I studied film.

I borrowed equipment there

and sponged in various ways.

Yes, mostly I believe

in trying it yourself.

The Orchid Garden was his entry

ticket into film school

in Copenhagen.

But what has the film school

to offer

other than that Lars Trier

becomes Lars von Trier?

Primarily it meant that I became

like an enfant terrible.

Naturally.

That everything those idiots

taught me, I wasn't going to do.

It is their fault that things have

turned out the way they have.

VIENNA 1934

We learnt not to do many things.

They were seen as improper.

We couldn't use flashbacks.

And we couldn't use voice-overs.

That was the most improper

thing imaginable.

There was a third thing...

If something took place in Vienna,

1934, our teacher wanted us...

Under no circumstances begin

with a caption which read

"Vienna, 1934",

he wanted to take a close-up

of a fly walking over some ink,

making smudges on a cheque

and on the top of it

was "Vienna, 1934".

Why waste people's time with

a fly wandering over a cheque

when you can do it very simply?

Also, I think all these narrative

technical tools,

such as voice-over and the others,

have an atmospheric value.

We met at film school.

For the first years, I saw him

as this long-haired character

who always hid behind his hair

and scolded the staff.

There was always a combative

relationship between him and the staff.

I had no dealings with him

until one day...I was cutting...

I had a cutting room

off the corridor

and he'd done something

on video.

He sat across the corridor and

he had this...little video film.

I remember it was...He asked me

if I'd come over and watch it.

I wanted to.

It was the first time we'd spoken.

I went and saw it and it was

the worst rubbish I'd ever seen.

I've never seen anything like it,

before or since. It was a story...

There were two doors.

Behind each door was a woman.

I was completely gob smacked.

I had to...

I lay on the floor and laughed

until the tears ran.

And Lars sat there:

"What is he up to?"

And I think he really

respected me for this...

It wasn't a film you could hate,

you could only laugh at it.

I want to say that both

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