L'hôpital et ses fantômes

Few films have had me in their grip as von Trier's THE KINGDOM. Difficult to describe in words. Basically a horror epic that takes you to a hospital that no self-respecting human would set foot in. The camerawork is a real feat of genius. Why? Well, for such jerky movement to hold my attention for 4 AND ONE HALF HOURS I have nothing but admiration.

And it made me want to see Part II immediately after! Come to think of it, if Lars wanted to, he could have made it a week long marathon and I would have forgone sleep to see it's conclusion! Bring me buckets of espresso and bags of sugar! I ain't goin' anywhere.........

I didn't like Riget I much. It was boring, and horror stories like that had been told a thousand times before. On the positive side, Stig Helmer was one of the most memorable characters ever, and he was even better than he was in the second series. Kudos to Jaregard for an outstanding interpretation. Also on the positive side, some things were funny (Helmer with the car rims) and some were genuinely absurd (where Krogshoj lives). But overall, Riget remained well inside the boundaries of the horror genre, and the narration didn't reach the critical point where everything becomes art.

Now Riget II, a masterpiece. The second series expresses all the unrealized potential of the first one. The tone is consistently grotesque, each action and interaction is quite absurd, and all the bonds with reality have been cut. There's no suspension of disbelief anymore, because everything is obviously surreal. Still, the audience is hooked till the end following a plot that is part crazy, part logical and compelling. There's much more humor and much more horror than there was in the first series, allowing the film to reach that critical point where contrast between tones and genres creates a rich canvas of relationships and meanings. You will smile at the electric car, believe the zombie poison, and listen to extremely deep pieces of philosophy by the dishwashers and Lars von Trier himself. The last scene with Little Brother is painful and hilarious at the same time, while flirting with a cosmological, universal, spiritual significance: hats off. You will also witness delightful, unbelievable situations, that make perfectly sense within the plot: this is a subtle form of art that started to reach its full potential in the nineties.

I watched Riget II before year 2000 for the first time, and then recently watched it again. At the time, I was quite shocked by its originality. Many things that von Trier did here spread around later in film making: I think this series was really ahead of the times. For example, I could not but notice the similarities between Riget II and "Arrested Development", the comedy series: camera work, editing, jumps between scenes and subplots, dry humor, over the top characters, lots of things were exactly the same. It's like Von Trier developed a language to imagine and handle absurd situations with ease; you can notice the obvious progress he made from Riget I to II.

Simply one of the best and most original European tv series ever. So original, clever and visually groundbreaking it was way ahead of its time. Dont miss this one!

The Kingdom (Riget I) is quite simply a classic work of modern cinema. It's creepy, it's funny, it's emotional...and so much more. It grabs the viewer and does not let go until the end of each episode. Then, you want to view the next episode right away! It is like a great book which keeps you turning the pages one after another, after another...

I first saw The Kingdom on video and was blown away by the odd characters and the peculiar script of ideas. The story gets even more bizarre and twisted in Riget II, which has never been officially released in North America...but is available as an import for those interested. The full series is something I feel the urge to view again on a regular basis. In fact, I enjoy it so much that I've owned four subsequent editions on VHS and DVD. The official released 4-DVD import set from Denmark is the best, containing the full uncut versions of Riget 1 & 2.

The choice of the actors and actresses turned out perfect for the series, it is these performances that make The Kingdom work so flawlessly well. Ernst-Hugo Järegård & Kirsten Rolffes are the two most memorable roles in the series, and it is sad that they've both passed away. This is unfortunate as there would have been a Riget III to finish off the complete tales of The Kingdom, according to the words of Von Trier at least. It looks like that a Part 3 will never happen though, since two of the best leads of the project are gone forever.

The way The Kingdom was filmed has a stylish look that is very organic, believable, and creepy when it needs to be. They tried many things to get a deliberate "dirty look" for the series, and I think they hit the mark dead on.

Stephen King also happens to be a fan of The Kingdom, and is currently working on a longer North American version of the series. I've heard it will be fully over 20 hours, but that could be just a wild rumor. I am skeptical that this will work, but we'll just have to wait and see what it's like. Perhaps Part 3 of the story will finally get completed in this version. I'm sure I will always enjoy Von Trier's original the most, but it would be nice simply to know how the unfinished story of Part 3 evolves and is concluded...

Lars Von Trier perfects his dogme style with this fascinating Horror satire about a haunted, bizarre hospital. I watched both this and `The Kingdom II' back-to-back over one night and I must say the six hours just flew by. I've never had so much fun watching a television series before. Every thing was brilliant, the casting and sepia toned style helped give a reality of the situation and a labyrinthine theme to the hospital itself. All the actors were wonderful and totally believable. I hope they make more episodes soon; I'm hooked...