Evil can arise anywhere...

... as long as the situation is right - is what Lars von Trier said as he was asked to explain his film DOGVILLE.

Dogville (2003)

Dir./ Writer: Lars von Trier

★ Nicole Kidman, Nicole Bacall, Chloe Sevigny, Paul Bettany

Before I saw DOGVILLE, I knew what minimalism looked like in paintings and pictures, in architecture, furniture and fashion. But minimalism in films I hadn't fully understood yet. How can you make a minimalistic film? Cut all side plots, cut most of the dialogue, reduce it to one or two characters? I had seen the second suggestion in VALHALLA RISING, the only Mads Mikkelsen film I haven't been able to like – which, let me tell you, is very uncommon. I don't know if that film was minimalistic, though, and I didn't know that DOGVILLE was. Until I watched it. Already in the first minutes I realized it was different, and a few minutes later I knew how it was different. It was minimalistic, and I was crazy about it.