Offscreen

The Kingdom (Riget)
LARS VON TIER
DK, 1994, HD, VO (DANISH) ST ANG / ENG OND., 4 x 66’
Made for Danish television, “The Kingdom” is four episodes of an entertainingly cracked medical soap opera-cum-ghost story by the controversial and iconoclastic director Lars von Trier (Europa, Breaking The Waves, Antichrist, Melancholia) .
The Kingdom is a huge, crumbling hospital, built on sinister marshland and home to a diverse and eccentric crew of doctors and patients. Within the walls and labyrinthine corridors of this Danish hospital otherworldly events are unfolding. The tormented ghost of a young girl haunts the elevator, a phantom ambulance appears each evening and the eccentric staff are preoccupied with secret societies, malpractice cases and a pregnancy that has taken a frighteningly bizarre turn. Amidst the unfolding drama spirits and demons have been awakened.