Lars von Trier

1995–2000: Dogme 95 manifesto, and Golden Heart trilogy

In 1995, Trier and Thomas Vinterberg presented their manifesto for a new cinematic movement, which they called Dogme 95. The Dogme 95 concept, which led to international interest in Danish film, inspired filmmakers all over the world. It required filmmakers to shirk several common techniques in modern filmmaking, such as studio lighting, sets, costumes, and non-diegetic music. In 2008, together with their fellow Dogme directors Kristian Levring and Søren Kragh-Jacobsen, Trier and Thomas Vinterberg received the European film award for European Achievement in World Cinema.

In 1996 Trier conducted an unusual theatrical experiment in Copenhagen involving 53 actors, which he titled Psychomobile 1: The World Clock. A documentary chronicling the project was directed by Jesper Jargil, and was released in 2000 with the title De Udstillede (The Exhibited).

Trier achieved international success with his Golden Heart trilogy. Each film in the trilogy is about naive heroines who maintain their "golden hearts" despite the tragedies they experience. This trilogy consists of Breaking the Waves (1996), The Idiots (1998), and Dancer in the Dark (2000). While all three films are sometimes associated with the Dogme 95 movement, The Idiots was the only one to meet all the necessary criteria to be "certified" as such.

Breaking the Waves won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and featured Emily Watson, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Its grainy images, and hand-held photography, pointed towards Dogme 95 but violated several of the manifesto's rules. The second film in the trilogy, The Idiots, was nominated for a Palme d'Or, with which he was presented in person at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, despite his dislike of traveling. In 2000, Trier premiered Dancer in the Dark, a musical featuring Icelandic musician Björk, which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. The song "I've Seen It All" (co-written by Trier) received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song.

2003–2008: USA: Land of Opportunities trilogy and other works

The Five Obstructions (2003), made by Trier and Jørgen Leth, is a documentary that incorporates lengthy sections of experimental films. The premise is that Trier challenges Leth, his friend and mentor, to remake his 1967 experimental short The Perfect Human five times, each time with a different obstacle.

His next proposed trilogy, USA: Land of Opportunities, consists of Dogville (2003), Manderlay (2005), and the unmade Washington. The first two installments were shot with the same distinctive, extremely stylized approach, with the actors performing on a bare sound stage with no decoration, buildings' walls marked by chalk lines on the floor, a style inspired by 1970s televised theatre. Dogville starred Nicole Kidman as Grace Margaret Mulligan, a role taken by Bryce Dallas Howard for Manderlay. Both films feature an ensemble cast including Harriet Andersson, Lauren Bacall, James Caan, Danny Glover, and Willem Dafoe. The films question various issues relating to American society, such as intolerance and slavery.

A donkey was slaughtered for dramatic purposes during production of Manderlay, an act that caused actors including John C. Reilly to quit the film in protest at its cruelty to animals. The scene was cut from the film before it was released.

In 2006, Trier released the Danish-language comedy film, The Boss of It All, which was shot using an experimental process he named Automavision, involving the director choosing the best possible fixed camera position, then allowing a computer to randomly choose when to tilt, pan, or zoom. He followed this with a semi-autobiographical film, The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1 in 2007, which Trier wrote and Jacob Thuesen directed. The film tells the story of Trier's years as a student at the National Film School of Denmark. It stars Jonatan Spang as Trier's alter ego Erik Nietzsche and is narrated by Trier himself, with all main characters being based on real people from the Danish film industry. The thinly veiled portrayals include Jens Albinus as director Nils Malmros, Dejan Čukić as screenwriter Mogens Rukov, and Søren Pilmark.

2009–2014: Depression trilogy

The Depression trilogy consists of Antichrist, Melancholia, and Nymphomaniac. The three films star Charlotte Gainsbourg, and deal with characters who suffer depression or grief in different ways. This trilogy is said to represent the depression that Trier himself experiences.

Antichrist follows "a grieving couple who retreat to their cabin in the woods, hoping a return to Eden will repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage; but nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse". The film stars Willem Dafoe and Gainsbourg. It premiered in competition at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, where the festival's jury honoured the movie by giving the Best Actress award to Gainsbourg.

Melancholia, released in 2011, is an apocalyptic drama about two depressive sisters played by Kirsten Dunst and Gainsbourg, the former of whom marries just before a rogue planet is about to collide with Earth. The film was in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Best Actress award for Dunst.

In May 2011, known to be provocative in interviews, Trier's remarks during the press conference before the premiere of Melancholia in Cannes caused significant controversy in the media, leading the festival to declare him persona non grata. He was therefore banned from Cannes for one year, although Melancholia still competed in that year's competition.

Minutes before the end of the press conference, Trier was asked about his German roots and the Nazi aesthetic, in response to his description of the film's genre as "German romance". He joked that since he was "no longer Jewish," having been told the truth about his biological father, he now "understands" and "sympathizes" with Hitler, that he is not against the Jews except for Israel which is "a pain in the ass" and that he is a Nazi. Trier was branded an antisemite for his remarks. He released a formal apology immediately after the press conference and kept apologizing for his joke during all of the interviews he gave in the weeks following the incident, admitting that he was not sober, and saying that he did not need to explain that he is not a Nazi. However, in 2019, Trier stated that he made this remark at the "only press conference I ever had when I was sober."

The actors of Melancholia who were present during the incident – Dunst, Gainsbourg, Skarsgård – defended the director, pointing to his provocative sense of humor and his depression. He refused to attend a private press screening of his subsequent feature Nymphomaniac. In the director's defense, Skarsgård stated at the screening, "Everyone knows he's not a Nazi, and it was disgraceful the way the press had these headlines saying he was." The director of the Cannes festival later called the controversy "unfair" and as "stupid" as Trier's joke, concluding that his films are welcome at the festival and that Trier is considered a "friend".

Following Melancholia, Trier began the production of Nymphomaniac, a film about the sexual awakening of a woman played by Gainsbourg. In early December 2013, a four-hour version was shown to the press in a private preview session. The cast also included Stellan Skarsgård (in his sixth film for Trier), Shia LaBeouf, Willem Dafoe, Jamie Bell, Christian Slater, and Uma Thurman. In response to claims that he had merely created a "porn film", Skarsgård stated "... if you look at this film, it's actually a really bad porn movie, even if you fast forward. And after a while you find you don't even react to the explicit scenes. They become as natural as seeing someone eating a bowl of cereal." For its public release in the United Kingdom, the film was divided into two volumes. The film premiered in the UK on 22 February 2014.

In interviews prior to the film's release, Gainsbourg and co-star Stacy Martin revealed that prosthetic vaginas, body doubles, and special effects were used for the production of the film. Martin also stated that the film's characters were a reflection of the director himself, and referred to the experience as an "honour" that she enjoyed. The film was also released in two "volumes" for the Australian release on 20 March 2014, with an interval separating the back-to-back sections. In February 2014, an uncensored version of Volume I was shown at the Berlin Film Festival, with no announcement of when or if the complete five-and-a-half-hour Nymphomaniac would be made available to the public. The complete version premiered at the 2014 Venice Film Festival and was shortly afterward released in a limited theatrical run worldwide that fall.

2015–2018: The House That Jack Built and return to Cannes

In 2015, Trier began work on a new feature film, The House That Jack Built, which was originally planned as an eight-part television series. The story is about a serial killer, seen from the murderer's point of view. It starred Matt Dillon in the title role, alongside Bruno Ganz, Riley Keough and Sofie Gråbøl. Shooting started in March 2017 in Sweden, before moving to Copenhagen in May.

In February 2017, Trier explained that the film "celebrates the idea that life is evil and soulless, which is sadly proven by the recent rise of the Homo trumpus – the rat king". The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2018. Despite more than a hundred walkouts by audience members, the film still received a 10-minute standing ovation. Although The House that Jack Built was praised by animal rights organization PETA for its use of realistic effects, a scene involving the main character mutilating a duckling was the subject of criticism from some audiences.

2019–present: The Kingdom trilogy

After the release of The House That Jack Built, Trier planned to produce Études, an anthology film consisting of ten black and white segments, each ten minutes long, inspired by the musical form, though it never came to fruition. In December 2020, it was announced he would produce a belated third and final season of The Kingdom, titled The Kingdom Exodus, with Søren Pilmark returning as Jørgen 'Hook' Krogshøj, Ghita Nørby as Rigmor Mortensen, alongside a new cast including Mikael Persbrandt as Dr. Helmer, Jr. It was shot in 2021, consisting of five episodes released in November 2022. The miniseries premiered out of competition at the Venice Film Festival as a five-hour feature-length film. It received mixed reviews from critics.

In 2024, Trier announced he was working on a new film titled After which will benefit from funding from the Danish Film Institute. Stellan Skarsgård was cast as the film's lead. Filming was expected to begin in summer 2025, with von Trier's health conditions reflected in the plot of the film.

Health

Mental health

Trier suffers from various fears and phobias, including an intense fear of flying. This fear frequently places severe constraints on him and his crew, necessitating that virtually all of his films be shot in either Denmark or Sweden.

On numerous occasions, he has stated that he suffers from occasional depression which renders him incapable of doing his work and unable to fulfill social obligations.

Parkinson's disease

On 8 August 2022, it was announced that Trier had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. According to Variety, Trier plans to take a break from filmmaking to adjust to his new life with the disease, saying: "I will take a little break and find out what to do, but I certainly hope that my condition will be better. It's a disease you can't take away; you can work with the symptoms, though." On 12 February 2025, Zentropa producer Louise Vesth announced via Instagram that Trier had been admitted to a care facility for the condition.