The Five Obstructions

The Five Obstructions (De fem benspænd, 2003) is a documentary by Jørgen Leth and Lars von Trier — watch online on iFILM. In 1967, Leth made a twelve-minute short called The Perfect Human: two figures moving through a white void while a narrator asks what it means to be human. Von Trier calls it one of the greatest films ever made. In 2003, he proposed a deal: remake it five times, each under a different set of rules von Trier devises alone.

The obstructions escalate. No cut longer than twelve frames. Shoot in one of the most troubled places on earth. Do it without showing where you are. Make an animated version — a format Leth openly hates. Each one is designed to dismantle a different part of his filmmaking reflex. Leth approaches every constraint like a deadpan anthropologist: methodically, a little slyly, and each time arriving somewhere von Trier did not plan for.

The film is a live argument about what constraints actually do to an artist — not a meditation on the process but the process itself, running in front of you. Stream The Five Obstructions (2003) on iFILM.