Europa movie storyline. An American of German descent arrives in post-war Germany 1945. His uncle gets him a job on the Zentropa train line as a sleeping car conductor. The American’s wish is to be neutral to the ongoing purges of loyalists by the Allied forces and do what he can to help a hurting country, but he finds himself being used by both the Americans and the influential family that owns the railroad. After falling in love with the railroad magnate’s daughter, he finds that he can’t remain neutral and must make some difficult choices.
Europa (known as Zentropa in North America) is a 1991 Danish art drama film directed by Lars von Trier. It is von Trier’s third theatrical feature film and the final film in his Europa trilogy following The Element of Crime (1984) and Epidemic (1987).
The film features an international cast, including the French-American Jean-Marc Barr, Germans Barbara Sukowa and Udo Kier, expatriate American Eddie Constantine, and the Swedes Max von Sydow and Ernst-Hugo Järegård. Europa was influenced by Franz Kafka’s Amerika, and the title was chosen “as an echo” of that novel.
The film was shot throughout Poland (Chojna Cathedral (Marienkirche) and the Chojna Roundhouse) and in Denmark (Nordisk Film studios, Copenhagen and the Copenhagen Dansk Hydraulisk Institut) Von Trier’s production company, Zentropa Entertainments, is named after the sinister railway network featured in this film, which is in turn named after the real-life train company Mitropa.
Europa (1991)
Directed by: Lars von Trier
Starring: Barbara Sukowa, Jean-Marc Barr, Udo Kier, Ernst-Hugo Järegård, Erik Mørk, Jørgen Reenberg, Henning Jensen, Dietrich Kuhlbrodt, Max von Sydow
Screenplay by: Lars von Trier, Niels Vørsel
Production Design by: Henning Bahs, Andrzej Borecki
Cinematography by: Henning Bendtsen, Edward Klosinski, Jean-Paul Meurisse
Film Editing by: Hervé Schneid
Costume Design by: Manon Rasmussen
Music by: Joachim Holbek
MPAA Rating: R for scenes of violence.
Distributed by: Nordisk Film
Release Date: May 12, 1991 (Cannes), June 22, 1991 (Germany), August 16, 1991 (Denmark)
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