The element of crime plays like a Film Noir, set in a dystopian alternative universe, within the mind of David Lynch. Detective Fisher returns to Europe after a thirteen year stay in Ciarro, to catch a murderer responsible for the deaths of several young girls. Fisher takes an untested approach to investigating, after reading a book written by his old mentor entitled "The Element of Crime". This book argues for an alternative method of understanding the human mind. It requires the researcher to relive the life of the one they are following, in order to gain a greater understanding of who that person is. Fisher soon finds himself, living the life of suspect Harry Grey, living in his home, interacting with his cohorts, and loving his former lover. Fisher's sense of identity is challenged as his individuality becomes indistinguishable to that of Harry Grey. The film is encompassed in a reddish overtone, resembling an eternal twilight, which could either represent dawn or day break. The story is told from the point of view of a man attempting to recall his memories while in a hypnotic state. Fisher even deliberately skips certain parts of his story, declaring that they are pointless to recall and at times admits that he isn't sure if certain parts of the story are true. 'The Element of Crime" is a good introductory film for anyone interested in the works of director "Lars Von Trier" It's unorthodox style of environment and story telling immerse the viewer head first into the mind of Lars Von Trier, showing them that the typical rules of story telling no longer apply.

Director Lars Von Trier's first feature length film, The Element of Crime, follows a former cop named Fisher, played by Michael Elphick, who is remembering the last case he worked on using unconventional methods to track down a serial killer known as the Lotto Murderer. As Fisher returns to the investigation, searching through his memories, everything is extremely eerie and surreal. The entire film, in fact, is like watching a dream. This world that he remembers is a dystopian film noir, complete with a femme fatale, a monochromatic styling, crazy plot twists and everything else the genre is known for, but all in Von Trier's unique style.First and foremost, this film is a visual feast. Perhaps it is even too much of a feast, as often is the case with first time experimental filmmakers, but there is definitely something to watch in every shot with such incredible cinematography. Brilliant shots, like looking down at a mirror so that you see both a face and feet all at once, jump at every edit. Color is very important, despite the fact that it is mostly a sort of sepia tone. It's a different take on the black and white noir style to have the entire film in a yellowish, orangish tint, and this coming before it became an overused Hollywood trick. Blacks and shadows are just as important as the colors, creating depth as light sources themselves live and move through the frames and every once in awhile a highlighted blue object will appear to add contrast and shake up your visual interest.Heightening the dreamlike state, the film unfolds in such a melodic way that it becomes hypnotizing. The editing keeps the ambiance flowing through from scene to scene. Often the dialogue of the film will purposely contradict itself, creating a little bit of confusion and causing a step back. It's like watching poetry where the feeling you get and the rhythm in which it's presented is just as important as what's actually happening, even if they don't always match. This is how the brain works, going back and forth sorting out our issues until we're finally resolved in the end.The Element of Crime is very similar to and even on par with another film noir with a science fiction slant, Jean-Luc Goddard's Alphaville. Both are mysterious and atmospheric, as any film noir should be, but these are different. They are heavier and darker in mood. The low, grumbling voice over heard throughout both creates a tension and an uneasy spine tingle that is not often found within the genre. Likewise, it's not hard to see where this movie may have influenced others. The City of Lost Children definitely seems to have taken some visual cues from here.You can see all of the early details that would come to be staples for the director in his career, including the overlaying fantasy aspects that makes his films otherworldly while still based in realism, as well as his love of trilogies, one of which, the Europa Trilogy which shows crisis situations set in a futuristic Europe, is started by this film. Von Trier spared no expense, or thought, on this endeavor and it really payed off and paved the way for a great artistic career. What a way to come full fledged into the industry with a debut feature like The Element of Crime.

One detects the influence of many directors on the young Von Trier, many have already been mentioned (Tarkovsky, Hitchcock, Bergman, etc), but Tarkovsky looms the largest. The opening scene is a direct quote of 'Andrei Rublev', from there on in we are treated to ever increasing levels of Tarkovsky-esq rain, dripping faucets, people standing in water, until it becomes almost comical. The story is ostensibly your generic 'washed up cop pursuing a murder' mixed in with some hypnosis and color filters. The main character is apparently following a crime detection method outlined in a book (entitled 'Element of Crime', of course). This involves somehow 'becoming' the killer by recreating his steps, rather predictably, the line becomes blurred between cop and killer and then nothing seems to happen. The movie starts with good energy and atmosphere, but then fails to capitalize on the setup, scenes just seem to serve the purpose of allowing Lars to insert yet more Tarkovsky/noir references until it all starts to feel a little pointless. The movie then ambiguously grinds to a halt with no obvious conclusion (at least not one which was clear to me). One can't fault Von Trier's imagination, scenes often startle with their originality and composition, but it just starts to feel played out by the middle of the movie, the story is simply not strong enough to support the visuals. As a first movie, it's pretty damn good, but it just doesn't quite come off. Zentropa is a much better movie.

"Do you believe me? I'm in the middle of Europe screwing a Volkswagen 1200." A brilliantly esoteric pseudo-murder-mystery, The Element of Crime brings to mind the work of Paul Auster, stories like Ghosts and City of Glass. The fact that the entire film is communicated through the hypnosis-induced memories of a former detective leads to a breathtaking heightened reality that makes the film's dreamy visual sensibility irresistible. I don't know if it's thanks to Von Trier or Criterion (who deigned this movie one of the first entries into their Collection), but the print is GORGEOUS, and is damn near impossibly clean for a film made in 1984. Amadeus didn't look this good the day it came out.Like Auster's masterpieces, the film is technically about a murder, a detective named Fisher (Michael Elphick) returning to Europe from Cairo after a thirteen-year absence, come back to investigate a child killer named Harry Grey, as informed by his mentor Osborne (Esmond Knight), a mysterious prostitute named Kim (Me Me Lai) and antagonistic Chief of Police Kramer (Jerold Wells). He is telling all this from memory to a therapist (Ahmed El Shenawi), and the atmosphere is in kind.The film is completely shot in a burnt-umber tint, with occasional hints of blue coming through for minor things like police lights, and I can't be exact, but I would be willing to bet that the entire film is shot at nighttime, and at least 90% of it is during a severe rainstorm (Dark City, eat your heart out). It really is the doom-and-gloom special, and it's perfect for maintaining the mood the film is looking to put forth. Like Rose Hobart, it's the combination that makes all the difference. Alone, any of these elements (of crime?! No.) could have been comfortable, even soothing, but in tandem, they're haunting and unsettling, and kept me on the edge even at times when nothing of substance was occurring on screen.This is not to say that a lot of tangible things DO occur on screen. Anyone coming into The Element of Crime looking for a straightforward detective movie, where he follows the clues and solves the crime, is going to be sorely disappointed. This is why I'm glad I had read City of Glass previously. I realized straight away that this wasn't going to be ordinary or obvious. For Fisher, what originally begins as an investigation very quickly spirals down into a series of bizarre encounters and off-the-wall experiences, and he gets so deep into his desperate search and into his own psyche that he begins to lose his identity, and damn near his capacity for rational thought, and the results are spellbinding.Of course, considering the director, I should have realized substantially sooner than the start of the film that this wasn't going to be Agatha Christie ordinary. Ol' Lars doesn't do ordinary. Hell, even his most 'commercial' film (his office comedy The Boss of It All) is a long way from starring Will Smith, and his greatest films, like Dogville or Zentropa, are "off" just enough to be unique. I think this is the thing that attracts people who might not be aligned with Von Trier's world view, his cinematic approach, might find themselves lost in an area that they aren't comfortable with. For all you crazy kids who think you might be, give Von Trier's debut film a whirl. Be warned, though: It just might whirl you back.{Grade: 8.5/10 (B+) / #11 (of 26) of 1984}