Jørgen Leth

  • Jørgen Leth – Eddy Merckx in the Vicinity of a Cup of Coffee AKA Eddy Merckx i nærheden af en kop kaffe (1973)

    1971-1980DenmarkExperimentalJørgen LethShort Film
    Eddy Merckx in the Vicinity of a Cup of Coffee (1973)
    Eddy Merckx in the Vicinity of a Cup of Coffee (1973)

    From: IMDB
    With a slow introductory zoom onto Leth in a TV studio and a corresponding zoom out at the end Eddy Merckx in the Vicinity of a Cup of Coffee may be structured in the classical style but an extremely unusual TV production is involved: in the studio Leth reads from his poetry while a subtitle – like in Life in Denmark – pedantically but ambiguously presents observations and describes what is going on. The subtitles seem to serve as a medium for the director’s deliberations as the TV film progresses, starting with the following manifesto: “I have no desire to save you or admonish you or get to know you. But I would like to try to entertain you for a while with words, sounds, and images”. Alternating with poetry readings from the studio the second half of the film consists of moments from the 1970 Tour de France, including the cobbled roads of Northern France, from Mont Ventoux, and from the cathedral dash in Rouen… Written by AnonymousRead More »

  • Jørgen Leth – Ofelias blomster AKA Ophelia’s Flowers (1968)

    1961-1970DenmarkExperimentalJørgen LethShort Film
    Ofelias blomster (1968)
    Ofelias blomster (1968)

    Quote:
    Ophelia’s Suicide soliloquy is staged by a forest pond against the backdrop of a stretched piece of blue fabric gently quivering in the accidental breeze. A few years earlier, Jørgen Leth and Per Kirkeby had put on a highly stylized production of “Hamlet” at the Svalegangen theatre in Aarhus and from there comes the idea of Ophelia’s soliloquy literally “going to pieces” according to this principle: when Leth in the wings, strikes two wooden blocks together, the actress halts her reading and starts over. As the actress is halted again and again, the soliloquy breaks up according to the accidental principle, which is unpredictable and enervating. Read More »

  • Per Kirkeby & Jørgen Leth – Dyrehaven: Den romantiske skov AKA The Deer Garden: The Romantic Forest (1970)

    1961-1970DenmarkDocumentaryJørgen LethPer KirkebyShort Film

    Quote:
    This film about the Deer Garden, a forest park north of Copenhagen, was an assignment to celebrate the Deer Garden’s 300th anniversary. Leth and the painter Per Kirkeby above all wanted to do an attractive film about life in the forest orchestrated around the four seasons. The photography is heavily inspired by the Danish Golden Age painters’ view of nature. Kirkeby, Leth and DP Henning Camre worked on and off for a full year to find the ideal light and the optimum framing, seeking out the truly beautiful. As Leth puts it, “there was complete…golden-section control of the whole film. “The narrative holds tiny traces of romantic-poetry notions of mystical and mythical forest life: a nude woman appears among the tree trunks and vanishes again like a fairy girl on a summer night. Read More »

  • Ole John & Jørgen Leth – Se Frem Til En Tryg Tid AKA Look Forward To A Time Of Security (1964)

    Jørgen Leth1961-1970DenmarkExperimentalOle JohnShort Film

    From the cover:
    In this small film, shot in Estepona in the south of Spain, Jørgen Leth and Ole John pursue the principle of asynchronisation and the juxtaposition of disparate elements. The images are footage from a barbershop, a talking man’s face and black film. The sound likewise embraces three elements: a story of how cement is made, which has neither head nor tail; a recording of a shave; and Louis Hjulmand’s score. The tight framing lends the mundane act of a shave a beauty of its own. Meanwhile, in the juxtaposition of near-rambling monologue and music, something else emerges, something more. As a viewer, you try to connect the two, but because no such connection exists, you have to surrender to the pure “experience” of images and sound. The title, a Danish Social-Democratic election slogan, is meaningless in this context. However, if you play around with the juxtaposition of the world “security” and the shots of the man’s soft skin and exposed neck under the barber’s sharply honed razor, the mock meaning rubs up against an altogether different one.Read More »

  • Jørgen Leth – Det gode og det onde AKA Good and Evil (1975)

    1971-1980DenmarkDocumentaryJørgen Leth

    This central work makes a grotesque attempt to organize life according to a series of captions, cataloguing life’s elements. No more, no less. A series of tableaux showcases actors and other well-known Danes as ‘examples’ of the emotions, conditions or phenomena discussed by the neutral, authoritative voiceover: Faces, Bodies, Objects, Necessary Acts, Unnecessary Acts, Good Thougts, Bad Thoughtd and more. Leth opens with a typical statement: ‘Life is interesting. We will study it.’ The director has described the film as a collage or a catalogue of life. Elsewhere, he has called it a surrealist comedy. A bit of everything, it looks like no other film ever made.Read More »

  • Jørgen Leth – Det Erotiske Menneske AKA The Erotic Man (2010)

    2001-2010DenmarkDocumentaryEroticaJørgen Leth

    A collections of scenes based on documents, letters, pictures and poems that depict a man’s erotic nature.Read More »

  • Jørgen Leth – At danse Bournonville AKA Dancing Bournonville (1979)

    1971-1980DenmarkDocumentaryJørgen LethPerformance

    At danse Bournonville is a portrait of the Bournonville tradition at the Royal Danish ballet that has survived for 150 years on the basis of a few notes and the memories of the dancers and is the basis of the special nature and global reputation the company enjoys. The film was created in continuation of, and drawing on, Leth and Holmberg’s experience in making Peter Martins – en danser.Read More »

  • Lars Von Trier & Jørgen Leth – De Fem benspænd AKA The Five Obstructions (2003)

    2001-2010DenmarkDocumentaryJørgen LethLars Von Trier

    The Five Obstructions”, a 100 min. theatre documentary directed by Lars von Trier and Jørgen Leth. An investigative journey into the phenomenon of “documentary”, based on manifestos written by each director. About a filmmaker not only revisiting, but also recreating (not in a conventional sense) one of his first films, The Perfect Human / Det perfekte menneske (1967), a document on life in Denmark, containing the familiar Leth idiosyncrasiesRead More »

  • Jørgen Leth – Det legende menneske AKA Moments of Play (1986)

    1981-1990DenmarkDocumentaryExperimentalJørgen Leth

    A personal essay on the play of children and grown-ups all over the world. The director has shot the film in different countries and cultures: Bali, Brazil, China, Denmark, UK, Haiti, Spain and the USA.Read More »

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