Plot Summary

In his second film, director Lars von Trier stars as a young filmmaker (named Lars) who, along with his friend, Niels (real life co-writer, Niels Vørsel), is writing a 200-page screenplay entitled "The Cop & The Whore." When they lose the screenplay in a computer mishap, they decide to start over with a new story entitled "Epidemic," about a horrible plague taking over Europe. Little do they know that, as they are writing, a real viral catastrophe is starting to wipe out the citizens of the continent. Strange and experimental, EPIDEMIC alternates between 16mm and 35 mm film, and often breaks up its narrative flow with strange vignettes involving characters who don't appear elsewhere in the story. As part of von Trier's EUROPA trilogy (which also includes THE ELEMENT OF CRIME (1985) and ZENTROPA (1992)), this is required viewing for fans of the idiosyncratic and uncompromising Danish auteur.