Ranking Every Lars Von Trier Film Worst To Best
The best and worst from the innovative and controversial filmmaker.
In the world of Hollywood, Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier stands as one of the most daring, divisive and controversial directors in the game. Releasing his first short film The Orchid Gardener in 1977, he has been shocking audiences worldwide for four decades thanks to his honest and dark examination of themes like depression and suicide, as well as various social and political issues.
His career has been marred with controversy from day one, and it's no secret that he's something of an acquired taste. That being said, underneath the sinister imagery, graphic violence and disturbing actions that characterise his films, many of his projects are far deeper and more thoughtful than his detractors would have you believe.
That's not to say all of his films are good, however. Several of his earlier works, for example, have not benefitted from the director's love of experimentation, and sometimes his need to go big or go home has hindered the best parts of his work from shining through.
Nonetheless, Lars von Trier is as risk-taking and as innovative as they come, and when he gets things right his films are nothing short of masterful. Hard to watch, yes, but seamlessly achieved and unique. With that in mind, here are all of von Trier's films ranked worst to best, excluding his early short projects (The Orchid Gardener, Images of Liberation) and his TV work. Let's get stuck in.
14. Epidemic (1987)
The second installment in von Trier's Europa Trilogy, Epidemic serves as a meta art-house horror film split into five segments. Von Trier and co-writer Niels Vorsel play themselves, battling to create a script for their next project. The bulk of the film focuses on the pair as they write their screenplay over an 18 month period; the rest of the film is intercut with scenes from their work-in-progress, a horror yarn about a doctor (also played by von Trier) trying to cure a violent epidemic.
This being a von Trier film, even an early one, Epidemic is an increasingly strange and disturbing vision, which becomes more twisted and surreal as the story wears on. The main issue is the plot, which, whilst inventive, meanders through the majority of the runtime until its deeply unsettling final moments.
Epidemic is vintage von Trier, but isn't nearly as well-drawn as his other projects.