In 1967, experimental filmmaker Jorgen Leth created a striking short film, The Perfect Human, starring a man and women sitting in a box while a narrator poses questions about their relationship and humanity. Years later, Danish director Lars von Trier made a deal with Leth to remake his film five times, each under a different set of circumstances and with von Trier's strictly prescribed rules. As Leth completes each challenge, von Trier creates increasingly further elaborate stipulations.
Direction
Von Trier's gleeful sadism as he watches Leth squirm.
Writing
The obstructions themselves: brilliant, cruel, unexpectedly liberating.
Director
Jørgen Leth
Jørgen Leth
Voice-over (from Det perfekte menneske) / Self - Director / +
Lars von Trier
Self / Obstructor (segment "The Conversations")
Claus Nissen
The Perfect Man (from Det perfekte menneske) (archive footage)
Jacqueline Arenal
The Perfect Woman (segment "Cuba")
Patrick Bauchau
The Perfect Man / Voice-over (Brussels) / Speaker (Cartoon)
Alexandra Vandernoot
The Perfect Woman (segment "Brussels")
Bent Christensen
Gangster (from Det gode og det onde) (segment "Cartoon")
Anders Hove
Naked Man (from Notater om kærligheden) ( segment "Cartoon")
Charlotte Sieling
Naked Woman (from Notater om kærligheden) ( segment "Cartoon")
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This is essentially the Dogme 95 manifesto in personal form—von Trier proving his own theories by weaponizing them against his hero.
Leth genuinely didn't know some obstructions beforehand; his pained reactions are real-time documentary, not performance.
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