Imagined Places – Location in Lars von Trier’s films in the perspective of Carl Th. Dreyer and Andrey Tarkovsky

During the past few years, cinema studies have experienced a ‘spatial turn’ in the sense that film scholars have begun exploring in detail different aspects of space, place and location in film. Taking these theories as a point of departure, the concepts of non-places and empty spaces are pursued in the article. For the purpose of illustrating the concept of imagined places in Lars von Trier’s films, two of Trier’s most influential sources of inspiration – Carl Th. Dreyer and Andrey Tarkovsky – are included. In Trier’s Medea, which is based on a manuscript by Carl Th. Dreyer, location illustrates the spatial destabilisation typical of his oeuvre. The mythical, timeless character of the location in Antichrist, dedicated to Andrey Tarkovsky, complements the mental destabilisation of the characters – another characteristic feature in Trier’s oeuvre. Both films highlight the role of imagined places as well as the tool of high angle photography.