The Five Obstructions

The Five Obstructions
Directed by	Lars von Trier Jørgen Leth
Produced by	Peter Aalbæk Vibeke Windeløv
Written by	Lars von Trier Jørgen Leth
Starring	Lars von Trier Jørgen Leth Claus Nissen Daniel H. Rodriguez Patrick Bauchau
Distributed by	Zentropa Real ApS and Koch-Lorber Films
Release date(s)	Toronto Film Festival: 11 September 2003 United Kingdom: 7 November 2003 Denmark: 21 November 2003 United States; 26 May 2004
Running time	103 minutes
Country	Denmark
Language	Danish, English, French, Spanish

The Five Obstructions (Danish: De fem benspænd) is a 2003 Danish film by Lars von Trier and Jørgen Leth. The film is a documentary, but incorporates lengthy sections of experimental films produced by the filmmakers. The premise is that Lars von Trier has created a challenge for his friend and mentor, Jørgen Leth, another filmmaker. Von Trier's favourite film is Leth's The Perfect Human (1967). Von Trier gives Leth the task of remaking The Perfect Human five times, each time with a different 'obstruction' (or obstacle) given by von Trier.^[1]

The obstructions

1. Leth must remake the film in Cuba (but with no set) with no shot longer than 12 frames, and he must answer the questions posed in the original film; Leth successfully completes this task.
2. Leth must remake the film in the worst place in the world but not show that place onscreen; additionally, Leth must play the role of "the man". The meal must be included but the woman is not to be included. Leth remakes the film in the red light district of Bombay, only partially hiding it behind a translucent screen.
3. Because Leth failed to complete task 2 perfectly, von Trier punishes him, telling him to either remake the film in any way he chooses, or redo obstruction 2 in Bombay again. Leth chooses the first option and remakes it in Brussels using split-screen effects.
4. Leth must remake the film as a cartoon. He does so with the aid of Bob Sabiston, a specialist in rotoscoping, who creates animated versions of shots from the previous films. As such the final product is technically an animation but not a cartoon. So he fails.
5. The fifth obstruction is that von Trier has already made the fifth version, but it must be credited as Leth's, and Leth must read a voice-over narration ostensibly from his own perspective but in fact written by von Trier.

Collaboration with Martin Scorsese

At the Berlinale 2010, Lars von Trier, Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro announced plans to work on a remake of Scorsese's film Taxi Driver. The film will be made with same restrictions as were used in The Five Obstructions.^[2]

References

Notes

1. ^ The Five Obstructions (2003) | FILM REVIEW; A Cinematic Duel of Wits For Two Danish Directors
2. ^ Lars Von Trier, Robert DeNiro, and Martin Scorsese Collaborating on New Taxi Driver "Lars Von Trier, Robert DeNiro and Martin Scorsese collaborate on New Taxi Driver". dreadcentral.com. http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/35923/lars-von-trier-robert-deniro-and-martin-scorsese-collaborating-new-taxi-driver Lars Von Trier, Robert DeNiro, and Martin Scorsese Collaborating on New Taxi Driver. Retrieved 2010-02-24. 

Further reading

• Livingston, Paisley; Plantinga, Carl R.; Mette Hjort (3 December 2008). The Routledge companion to philosophy and film. Routledge. ISBN 9780415771665. http://books.google.com/books?id=hev6YYxFpYgC. Retrieved 11 October 2010. 

External links

• The Five Obstructions at the Internet Movie Database
• Movies You May Have Missed - Ep 18: The Five Obstructions
• The Five Obstructions at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Five Obstructions at AllRovi