The Five Obstructions
2003 [DANISH]
Documentary
88%
TOMATOMETER
· 60 reviews
84%
AUDIENCE
· 5K ratings
7.4/10
9.5K
Plot summary
In 1967, experimental filmmaker Jorgen Leth created a striking short film, The Perfect Human, starring a man and women sitting in a box while a narrator poses questions about their relationship and humanity. Years later, Danish director Lars von Trier made a deal with Leth to remake his film five times, each under a different set of circumstances and with von Trier's strictly prescribed rules. As Leth completes each challenge, von Trier creates increasingly further elaborate stipulations.
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Movie Reviews
Rules of the Game
Original, amusing and entertaining
This documentary was a pleasant surprise. I saw the original short movie "The Perfect Human" before viewing this, which is about re-making "The Perfect Human" under different and more difficult circumstances (the five obstacles), and I recommend others to do the same. To truly enjoy this movie you should have some interest for art movies and movie-making in general. It is amusing to see the frustrations of the movie-maker in question, Jørgen Leth, as he is ordered to cripple his original "masterpiece". The movie shows how creativity and imagination is stimulated under the right circumstances. I felt inspired after viewing this movie and actually made my own version of the short movie together with some friends (still not cut, but it will probably be awful). All in all, interesting and fun but sometimes it gets me thinking that some of the chunks between the short movies should have been cut out.