The Element of Crime is a 1984 Danish experimental neo-noir crime film co-written and directed by Lars von Trier. It is the first feature film directed by von Trier and the first installment of the director's Europa trilogy — succeeded by Epidemic (1987) and Europa (1991).

Plot

A detective named Fisher, who has become an expatriate living in Cairo, undergoes hypnosis in order to recall his last case. The Europe of his dreamlike recollection is a dystopia, dark and decaying continent. Fisher remembers that he was hired by the police chief Kramer to pursue a serial killer called the "Lotto Murderer", who was strangling and then mutilating young girls who were selling lottery tickets. He attempts to track down the killer using the controversial methods outlined in a book entitled The Element of Crime, written by his disgraced mentor, Osborne. Fisher's search is based on a tailing report written by Osborne when trying to track down a murderer Harry Grey, who had been killing in the same way as the "Lotto Murderer", but who, supposedly, has since died in a crash. He is joined in his search by a prostitute named Kim, who, it turns out, has had a child by Harry Grey. The Osborne method requires the detective to try to identify with the mind of the killer. This he does, but, in so doing, begins to behave more and more like a serial killer himself. The film suggests that both Osborne and Fisher, by going too deeply into a serial killer's mind, have become murderers themselves. Osborne, we are told, confessed his crime or multiple murders to Police Chief Kramer before committing suicide. Fisher apparently goes back to Cairo as the case is closed. The film ends with Fisher, still under hypnosis, seemingly going into his subconsciousness and discovering an imprisoned little animal there. He then tells the hypnotist "You can wake me up now" but receives no response.

Awards