Messy but very interesting, with some fantastic technical tricks (interesting use of rear projection, great B&W photography, Sydow's haunting voice-over, spontaneous use of color). I feel like I need another watch to fully wrap my head around things, but it's a unique achievement, no doubt.

The Zentropa Express as representative of German nationalism can feel like an overt metaphorical device barreling down on a prostrate narrative done up as Polly Pureheart, but this look at the role of US industry in the post-WW2 reconstruction effort still works as a daring visual piece with a satirical edge. It's unashamedly pretentious, but then this is almost expected of von Trier; what's lacking is his uncanny ability, mastered in later films, to capture the frailty of the human condition.

Great visuals. Interesting piece of European history as well, but mostly great visuals.

Man, just... I don't know. What? I was about an hour into the movie and I just found myself thinking, "wait, has anything happened yet?"

Favorite Trier I have seen. Would have benefited from a stronger male lead, but it's worth watching for the great imagery and evocative atmosphere alone.

Some really interesting techniques including the strange narration style, the mix of B&W and colour and the rear projection(this one was particularly well done). It's tense and creepy with an ending that really closes things off.

Not many films deal with the immediate after-math of WW2, and judging from this film, it looks like it was almost as horrific and scary. The use of second-person narration, projected back-drops, and terrific camera-work works brilliantly for the film, not pretentiously against it.

Hallucinatory tale into the dark world of post-war Europa. Zentropa isn't very accomodating or welcoming cinema. In fact it's the very opposite, it's dark, chilling and sends a morbid feeling over your body. But once you look deeper, and get past this there's no letting go. It's a gripping noirish nightmare. This gives it, as contradictory as it sounds, a pure sort of beauty. Wonderful cinematography, and a strong message about the effects of living in a state of entropy.

An exceptionally original film with some unforgettable scenes. Stylistically gorgeous. With Max von Sydow as the hypnotist/narrator who addresses the audience in the second person and Jean-Marc Barr as the ultimate non-character (appropriately so), it feels bizarrely like a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure noir. I like it.

It certainly has something to say, the narrative just doesn't put it across in any interesting way. I also don't care for the b&w/color tricks.

Lars von Trier's Europa is simply unique, a beautiful and ambitious avant-garde exercise in filmmaking, not a pretentious historical revisionist observation on WW2 post-war Europe. Trier is neutral and yet passionate with his characters: he's more concerned with relationships than politics -- and I guess this is still a powerful movie on politics.

I'm normally lukewarm at best towards Film Noir and towards self-proclaimed Noir especially. But strangely this may be the von Trier film I liked the first times I saw it. The psychological and historical interof Noir as an American reaction to the World War II trauma is delightfully turned on its head without ever being to cute or obvious for its own good.

EUROPA, at least on the surface, is one of Lars Von Trier's most "normal" films, being shot in a glossy-noir style that evokes 40s Hollywood. The story, about intrigue in postwar Germany, is comparatively normal as well. But Von Trier has a few tricks up his sleeve, blending black-and-white and color to strong effect, and using rear-projection in ways better seen than described. It's not as powerful as his best work, but it's a fascinating, often beautiful film. Great narration by Max Von Sydow.

has its moments

My favorite Von Trier movie, Europa is hypnotizing. The main character is an interesting case of the altruistic individual who wants to help everyone and struggles to take a side in so many matters. The combination of b

The true classic of the E Trilogy this neo-noir by Von Trier is a truly magnificent film both thematically and visually. A very interesting meditation on free will in a genre that is often strangled by convention. Once this film builds to its tremendous climax one is left nearly drowning in the work.

This astonishing conclusion to Von Trier's ambitious trilogy is bleak, nihilistic, and beautiful, with the mix of black and white and color elements, and expert cinematography.

Through rear projection and trick shots the film creates a bizarre visual design which really contributes to the unsettling atmosphere of Europa, and like most Von Trier films, Europa has a lot to say in addition to the style. But at the same time it's a mess: slumps and occasionally becomes a bore. It's definitely interesting and yet I can't say I'd be thrilled to watch it again. Score is not a grade.

Some interesting techniques here: the noir-style black & white is punctuated by moments of color to highlight emotional moments, rear projection is used in a very unusual and striking fashion, and the narration is told in 2nd person. It doesn't always work, but it's effective at creating a nightmarish atmosphere. A nice relief from Von Trier's usual sledgehammer approach. There's not as much to annoy here as his later films but perhaps the lack of provocation makes it slightly less memorabl