Film: Lars von Trier diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease

Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier’s Parkinson’s diagnosis was made public to avoid speculation about the 66-year-old’s health ahead of the premiere of his latest project. Trier’s production company Zentropa announced this to the German Press Agency on Tuesday.

Zentropa announced on Monday that the filmmaker had been diagnosed with the disease. However, von Trier is in good spirits and work on “The Kingdom Exodus” will continue as planned, the statement said. However, he will only give very limited interviews before the premiere. “The Kingdom Exodus” is a sequel to Lars von Trier’s series “Geister” (in the Danish original “Riget”), of which two seasons were released in the 1990s. In Germany, the series was shown for the first time in 1995 on Arte.

Von Trier, who owes his surname to the fact that his foster father’s ancestors once emigrated from Trier to Denmark, won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2000 for “Dancer in the Dark” starring the Icelandic musician Björk. His international breakthrough came in 1996 with the award-winning drama “Breaking the Waves”.

The slowly progressing Parkinson’s disease causes cells in the brain that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine to die. This hinders the control of body movements and causes, among other things, the typical tremors of those affected.

Lars von Trier’s health has always been an issue in recent years. In 2018, for example, he told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” that he was constantly tired and could hardly stay awake. Von Trier said his life had been marked by fear, panic attacks and depression since childhood. His psychotropic drugs, he said at the time, were now in such high doses that his hands were constantly shaking, which made it difficult for him to use his mobile phone.