The Unrealised and the Unrealisable in Lars von Trier’s Filmography
Even though Lars von Trier’s career is full of famous, ambitious projects, it is also worth mentioning the ones that for some reason or other never came to fruition. In addition to the quickly abandoned concept of an international short film series to be produced over the span of thirty years, and a popular film-like mini-series that was never renewed for its crucial third season, it is important to consider the often announced, but never seen last part of the so-called American trilogy, which some people expected to be the climax of the director’s career. The article takes a closer look at these projects and tries to speculate about how they might or should have turned out, while, through the concept of the shot and von Trier’s other works, it presents the idea of an inherently unfinished and unrealizable aspect of film as a medium.
The integral version of this article can be found in the printed KINO!