Rent The Idiots (1998)

Not so idiotic - The Idiots review by LC

I was slightly worried this was going to be 110 minutes of improvised idiocy, but it actually turned out to be a much better structured piece of storytelling than I was expecting. The central premise of faking mental illness for fun is pretty shocking and taboo, an issue the film doesn't shy away from confronting head on, but it does also raise some interesting notions regarding 'polite society', and people's varying reactions to the disabled. The grainy home-movie style cinematography doesn't make this pleasant to look at (certainly compared to Von Trier's other films), but it probably helps to keep the film feeling it bit more real than a more polished product might. We get a good glimpse of an enclosed society, its internal power struggles, and some quite moving storylines for some of the characters - if I have one major criticism, it's that not all of them are fully explored to an equal level, so sometimes it can be hard keeping track of who's who. Obviously a film that will only appeal to arty-farty types, but well worth a watch if you want something different and interesting.

Dogma or Dogmatic? - The Idiots review by griggs

The Idiots is precisely what I expected—conflicting, provocative, and deeply problematic—but not in the way I hoped. I expected at least a flicker of dark humour to balance the conceit, but it stays grimly committed to its cause. Faking disability as protest might have played differently in 1998; in 2025, it feels like exploitation dressed up as critique. Still, the raw vérité filmmaking is intense. It’s a film about performance, shame, and truth—but it’s not easy to sit with.

A couple of very funny moments don't make up for a film which is just desperately trying to offend - The Idiots review by Timmy B

More than anything, Lars Von Trier is known as a provocateur of cinema. His films, which are infamous for being full of extreme violence, profanity & graphic real sex, cover a wide range of genres and themes. And one of the most infamous of his works is The Idiots, a film which was also one of the 1st to adhere to the Dogme 95 filmmaking rules. When it was released in '98, it provoked a firestorm of controversy for pretty much every element of it. Film critic Mark Kermode has repeatedly stated his absolute hatred of it, once to Von Trier's face, one of many critics who absolutely loathed it. So it comes with massive amounts of baggage before the film even starts rolling.

In an unnamed Scandinavian country, a group of adults spend their days "spassing:" acting mentally/physically disabled, even though they have no disabilities. On one such trip, they are joined by Karen, a depressed woman who watches them intrigued in a restaurant. She comes back with them to where they live (a mansion in the countryside,) and proceeds to tag along with them as their exploits grow more extreme.

Just the plot of this film (ordinary people faking mental/physical illness,) is enough to outrage a good proportion of people. And there are no half-measures with this acting out: every type of behaviour you can imagine is shown, with sometimes toe-curling results. And that's before you get to the real sex in an orgy or a man in a women's changing room getting an erection.

There's no doubt The Idiots wants more than anything to provoke you into either furious anger or disgust. And to be clear, if I'd been watching it when it was first released, there is a good chance I'd have had that reaction (having a best friend who is physically disabled undoubtedly adding fuel to the fire.) However, in 2026, it not only looks like the desperate piece of provocation it is, but I actually found it to be boring & tedious more than shocking.

For starters, there are much better provocateurs out there in the form of Gaspar Noë or Michael Haneke, people who have crafted genuinely intriguing & shocking films. But also, some of the motivations & actions of the characters are genuinely done by real people in the world who will, with a straight face, feign some kind of disability, black-up to take opportunities from ethnic minorities or lecture other people about privilege whilst benefitting from wealth most could only dream of.

So when I see a group of entitled, sanctimonious wasters who claim they are fighting back against the bourgeoisie whilst living for free in a huge mansion in the middle of the beautiful countryside, with access to a significant amount of credit to enable them to buy expensive caviar and maintain minibuses/cars, all whilst screaming about the inequalities of the world, I just find it boring. There are so many of these types of people in the world now that The Idiots genuinely looks like it has jumped the shark.

Added into the mix, the "Dogme rules" means that the film is shot extremely basically (Von Trier used an expensive but still basic camcorder,) so the whole thing looks absolutely terrible & garish. There is also frequent site of boom mikes in the background.

However, having said all of the above, there were a few moments of humour which absolutely had me screaming with laughter. The best of these was with a genuinely concerned member of the public when he sees one of the group in the driving seat of the minibus, in an almost Borat-style set-up. Those moments really were genuinely funny in their own right. But they are few and far between.

For those who want a genuinely shocking film-watching experience, but who haven't watched much recent controversial output, they will find much to satisfy them. But for those like myself, who have seen many "problematic" films/TV series, The Idiots just comes across as a relatively boring, desperate attempt to provoke, rarely succeeding.