In the film, Five Obstructions, Lars von Trier poses a series of obstacles to fellow filmmaker Jørgen Leth. His obstructions drive him crazy at first; he even refers to them as diabolical. Though it seems like these obstructions would be an inhibitor for Leth, he instead uses them as a way to think outside of the box. They prevent him from continuing to film in the same way. After the film made in Cuba, von Trier begins to realize that “The trouble is (Leth is) so clever that whatever I say inspires (him).” Von Trier also claims several times throughout the film that he doesn’t care if Leth’s film (with von Trier’s obstructions) is “crap,” but he seems to realize that no matter what he says, Leth will be able to do so successfully.
Von Trier wanted to remove Leth from his comfort zone. The ideal man and woman in his original movie were shot in a pristine environment without distractions. One of the original obstructions of “no set” was probably one of the hardest for Leth due to the fact that it meant that many elements were beyond his control. His movie filmed in Bombay didn’t have the obstruction of not using a set, but there was a whole crowd of people in the background who could have hindered the making of the film. It also seemed ironic for von Trier to send Leth to a “miserable place” when he was trying to portray the “perfect man.” One would think in order to have a perfect man, it’d be necessary to have him living in the ideal location.
“When I have something to work against, it liberates my imagination”From the movie, it seemed like von Trier was a huge fan of Leth’s. Because I didn’t know his background, I also assumed that Leth was the more accomplished and more famous filmmaker of the two. Perhaps that was merely because of the age difference. In many cultures, the younger generation is taught to revere their elders, though this is more the case in East Asian cultures than in Western cultures. I’m not sure why I was thinking that, especially when von Trier was in the position of authority – designating the obstructions posed for Leth. Despite this, there seems to be a mutual respect between the two. Von Trier isn’t obligated to be creating the impediments for Leth just as Leth does not need to be listening to von Trier’s suggestions.
– Jørgen Leth, from an interview with indiewire.com.
One creative obstruction that comes to mind is when artists are challenged in a contest to create something using only recycled materials. The ingenuity that springs from that limitation is sure to spur other ideas as well. For example, I recently purchased a bag online that was made from recycled shipping materials. Another invention that might have been produced from the idea of only using recycled materials is Patagonia’s recycling clothes program. They break down used Patagonia clothes in order to make new ones.
Lars von Trier has written, acted, produced, or directed over one hundred films. He suffers from aerophobia, fear of flying, so most all his films’ locations are in Denmark or Sweden, even though they might be set in the U.S. or other foreign countries. While he was a student at the Danish Film School, he made two films, Nocture (1980) and Image of Liberation (1982). Both movies won Best Film awards at the Munich film Festival. In his post film school years, he began a series of post-apocalyptic films: the Europe trilogy. Key creative aspects of the movies included sticking to a certain color scheme (as he did in “Element of Crime” when he stuck to sepia tone and used occasional streaks of light blue)and changing film types (between 16mm and 35mm in “Epidemic”). Quite a few of his earlier pieces contain both horror and comedy within the same movie. He demonstrates his breadth of involvement in the industry with his musical, “Dancer in the Dark” (2000), as well as with his production company, “Zentropa, that he co-founded in 1992.
