Director Lars von Trier puts his mischievous mind to work once again, this time creating a bizarre, humorous, and suspenseful tale about a Danish hospital that is haunted by ancient spirits. Copenhagen's largest hospital is nicknamed the Kingdom, and there are many odd things happening inside of it. The strange members of the medical staff have to contend with such heinous matters as murder and malpractice, but also occurrences linked to the occult and the supernatural. When a hypochondriac patient--who also happens to be the mother of one of the staff's employees--begins to see the ghost of a young girl who is trying to tell her something, she unsuccessfully tries to convince the staff that she isn't delusional. It isn't until each individual begins to experience mysterious episodes for themselves that the Kingdom starts to collapse. Filmed for Danish television in four separate hour-long episodes--"The Unheavenly Host," "Thy Kingdom Come," "The Living Dead," and "A Foreign Body"--von Trier's quirky drama builds in tension up to its shocking finale.
Director Lars von Trier puts his mischievous mind to work once again, this time creating a bizarre, humorous, and suspenseful tale about a Danish hospital that is haunted by ancient spirits. Copenhagen's largest hospital is nicknamed the Kingdom, and there are many odd things happening inside of it. The strange members of the medical staff have to contend with such heinous matters as murder and malpractice, but also occurrences linked to the occult and the supernatural. When a hypochondriac patient--who also happens to be the mother of one of the staff's employees--begins to see the ghost of a young girl who is trying to tell her something, she unsuccessfully tries to convince the staff that she isn't delusional. It isn't until each individual begins to experience mysterious episodes for themselves that the Kingdom starts to collapse. Filmed for Danish television in four separate hour-long episodes--"The Unheavenly Host," "Thy Kingdom Come," "The Living Dead," and "A Foreign Body"--von Trier's quirky drama builds in tension up to its shocking finale.
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Theatrical release: November 10, 1995.
THE KINGDOM was filmed on location in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Lars von Trier comments on the story at the end of each episode.
The story continues in THE KINGDOM II.
The film was originally shot on videotape, then later blown up to 35mm.
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The doctors and patients at a Danish hospital have become victims of an eternally restless spirit occupying the building in this bizarre, satirical horror film. The terror, borne of a terrible secret from the hospital's past, will not be silenced at any cost. Lars von Trier's masterful and creepy soap opera, a major television miniseries event in his native Denmark, deftly combines horror, comedy, and drama to invent an entirely new cinematic genre.
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"...The left-field extravaganza of the year....Adroit as well as funny..."
Premiere (12/01/1995)
"...As colourful a collection of oddballs as you could wish to see..."
Sight and Sound (01/01/1996)
"...[A] slice of Danish surrealism....Haunt[s] like a vivid dream." -- Rating: B
Entertainment Weekly (05/17/1996)
"...[THE KINGDOM] shows that Trier has the sharpest, blackest sense of humor in modern Europe..."
Film Comment (11/01/1994)
"...The film never forsakes its tone of deadpan earnestness....A prolonged tongue-in-cheek assault on film and television realism and ultimately on rationality itself..."
New York Times (01/06/1995)
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