Maverick Danish director Lars Von Trier offers a typically skewed vision of small-town America in Dogville. Filmed on a near-bare stage, it's a "controversial, intelligent and daring" film, which also served as the boldest move of Nicole Kidman's career. The gamble paid off though as critics were largely enamoured of the piece, although - as you'll find out on this DVD - it failed to win over the judges at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.
Confessions Of A Hollywood Star
Imagine reality show Big Brother but with a cast of A-List celebrities. The result is Confession Box, a very compelling, very funny, and sometimes shocking featurette that encourages the Dogville players to offload their innermost thoughts and feelings in the 'privacy' of a small shed. Surely this is what DVDs were made for!
The insanity of Von Trier obviously filtered through to his cast, and most of all, Paul Bettany, who speculates, "If there is a God, and if all that Bible stuff is true, then [co-star] Jeremy Davies might be the second coming. He's lovely..." (We can only assume Jennifer Connelly was too busy to keep her husband company on those cold Danish nights.)
Hollywood legend Lauren Bacall also makes a few appearances in the shed, although for the first she looks mildly confused. "I'm sorry," she says, "I thought this was the ladies' room." In one of his sessions, James Caan reveals a crippling dependency on Red Bull. "I find it to be very effective," he admits. "Especially if you get it really ice cold and pour it on your crotch."
But most disturbing of all is Nicole Kidman, who takes the whole thing rather too seriously: "Sometimes Lars is very hard on me," she splutters, "and I feel very strange." On the last day of filming it all gets too much for poor Nic, and when the tears begin to flow you'll almost feel guilty for watching. Now that's entertainment!
In The Cannes
"She's a very sensible woman even though she was married to Tom Cruise," observes Lars Von Trier in a revealing Cannes Festival diary. However, producer Vibeke Windeløv divulges that the ginger one insisted on having her own hair and makeup people on set, even though it meant they were being paid more than anyone else on the production - including Vibeke, Von Trier, and Kidman herself!
Von Trier shows less reverence for Elton John, who approached him at the fest to thank him for using his music in Breaking The Waves: "I almost took off his wig to wipe away my tears," says the crazy Dane. He clearly has no time for niceties and even less time for modesty, proudly exclaiming that his film is "magnificent - yet again, I have surpassed myself!" Even so, he offers no audio commentary for the film, which feels sadly remiss for a director as outlandish as this.
It may be lacking in quantity, but there's no doubting the quality of this disc. The unashamed honesty, outrageous humour, and off-kilter presentation is entirely demonstrative of the mad brain behind Dogville. In a word: barking!
EXTRA FEATURES
