The Idiots

Can a film be too provocative? Not provocative in the sense of explicit sex or graphic nudity, though Lars von Trier's (BREAKING THE WAVES) new film has plenty of both. Provocative in the sense that it provokes its audience from so many directions that its provocations cancel themselves out; throwing up one's hands seems the only option. It's overtly about provocation, set in a tony Danish suburb where a group of men and women living commune-style in an empty house are discovering their "inner idiots" by pretending to be developmentally challenged. They improvise drooling, disruptive scenes in public to test the limits of upper-middle-class hypocrisy. T...