88
USA Today by Mike Clark
A comic-fantasy nightmare of the wickedest kind. [22 Jul 1992, p.4D
Europa
Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
- Denmark,
- Sweden,
- France,
- Germany,
- Switzerland,
- Poland
- 1991
- · 113m
Director
Lars Von Trier
Cast
Jean-Marc Barr,
Barbara Sukowa,
Udo Kier,
Max von Sydow,
Eddie Constantine,
Jørgen Reenberg
Genre
Drama
Postwar Germany, 1945. Leopold Kessler, an American of German descent, works as a sleeping car conductor for the Zentropa railway line. When he meets Katharina Hartmann, the railroad owner's daughter, and they fall in love, his life intersects with the dark and violent path of a mysterious organization opposed to the United States army military occupation.
Stream Europa
What are critics saying?
80
Washington Post
At once retro and futuristic, the hyperstylized film recalls every wartime-era espionage/romance/noir flick, and in particular owes a debt to Lynch's Eraserhead, with its shadowy industrial backgrounds and throbbing soundtrack.
80
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
Although the actual story of Zentropa is the stuff of an ordinary thriller, that plot is the only conventional aspect of a film that is an almost impudently flashy and knowing exercise in post-modern cinematic expressionism.
80
Empire by William Thomas
Labyrintine and hypnotic, there's undoubtedly more style than substance to the film, but Von Trier manages to blind and bewilder his audience in a truly masterful manner.
80
Washington Post by Joe Brown
At once retro and futuristic, the hyperstylized film recalls every wartime-era espionage/romance/noir flick, and in particular owes a debt to Lynch's Eraserhead, with its shadowy industrial backgrounds and throbbing soundtrack.
78
Austin Chronicle by Marc Savlov
In the end, Zentropa is above all unique in its radical take on the inherent confusion of postwar Europe, offering the viewer a glimpse like none he has had before.
75
The A.V. Club by Scott Tobias
Europa has been described as a Kafka-esque fever dream, and while that isn't inaccurate, it's also a cover for the film's confounding narrative, which wends through murky noir plotting, a polyglot of accents and performance styles, and surreal interludes. The best approach is not to puzzle too much over the details, and to marvel at von Trier's technical wizardry, which re-imagines the period through a patchwork of vivid impressions.
75
Washington Post by Hal Hinson
It's an obscure experience, partly alienating, partly enthralling; it weaves a spell that is frightening, irritating and invigorating all at once.
75
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
The film is too confusing to be successful, but too striking and visually beautiful to be ignored.
75
Chicago Tribune by Clifford Terry
A bizarre, dreamlike, surrealistic thriller, Zentropa is one of those films that is easier to admire than like. Creatively crafted and finely tuned, it is also an extremely cold, nihilistic work - as starkly efficient as the imperious railroad company that forms the centerpiece. [03 Jul 1992, p.C]
75
San Francisco Chronicle by Leah Garchik
Zentropa is a film in sunglasses and a black beret, melodramatic and formidable. It took me two viewings of the movie to realize that a compelling story emerges when its surreal settings, harsh lighting, macabre characterizations, dreamlike images and cartoonishly stilted performances are set aside. [26 Jun 1992, p.G5]
50
Los Angeles Times by Peter Rainer
Von Trier is undeniably talented, but Zentropa, which won the 1991 Jury Prize at Cannes, comes across mostly as an exercise in pseudo-profundity. It’s got more metaphors than it knows what to do with.
50
Slant Magazine by Bill Weber
Von Trier and his three cinematographers fashioned a handmade, retro pastiche with a small, dried-out heart.
50
TV Guide Magazine
Zentropa is as muddled as it is stylized.
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