Cinema
The Perfect Human
Det perfekte menneske
Jørgen Leth · 1968
Synopsis
In a white room with invisible boundaries, furnished with a bed, a table and a chair, a man and a woman, both described as the perfect human being, are observed like specimens. The man touches his face, cuts his nails, shaves, undresses, jumps, snaps his fingers and dances; later he dresses again and eats a meal. A calm voice describes each of their gestures in the manner of a lecture, without ever saying who they are.
Context
Shot in 1967 in black and white, on images by Henning Camre, the short film runs thirteen minutes; Claus Nissen and Majken Algren Nielsen play the two roles and the voice is that of the director, then close to the experimental group ABCinema. It was released on 14 June 1968 in Copenhagen. The director presented it as a document on life in Denmark in 1967, a couple serving as a demonstration object. In 2003, Lars von Trier required him to remake it five times under five constraints, in a film they signed together.
Who it is for
Barely a quarter of an hour, in Danish, without colour. No plot: a voice comments on the gestures of a man and a woman.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as the film of its author's breakthrough and as a classic of Danish short film.
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