Riget (English title: The Kingdom) is a Danish absurdist supernatural horror miniseries trilogy created by Lars von Trier, co-written by von Trier with Niels Vørsel and co-directed by von Trier with Morten Arnfred. Set in the neurosurgical ward of Copenhagen's Rigshospitalet (lit.'The National Hospital', nicknamed "Riget", lit.'the realm' or 'the kingdom'), each episode of the show takes place over a single day, and follows the hospital's eccentric staff and patients as they encounter bizarre and sometimes supernatural phenomena. The series is notable for its wry humor, its muted sepia colour scheme, and the appearance of a chorus of dishwashers with Down syndrome, who discuss in intimate detail the strange occurrences in the hospital. The main theme's song was written by Von Trier himself.
Ole Reim (season 1), Bosse Lindquist (season 2), Louise Vesth (season 3)
Cinematography
Eric Kress
Editors
Molly Malene Stensgaard, Jacob Thuesen, Pernille Bech Christensen
Camera setup
Multi-camera
Running time
62-73 minutes
Production companies
ARTE, Danmarks Radio (DR)
Distributor
Mubi (Riget: Exodus)
Release
Original network
Danmarks Radio (DR) (Riget, Riget II, Riget: Exodus)
Viaplay, Mubi (Riget: Exodus)
Audio format
Dolby stereo (1994-1997)
Original release
November 24, 1994(1994-11-24)– October 30, 2022(2022-10-30)
Chronology
Related
Kingdom Hospital
The first series of four episodes premiered on DR in November and December 1994, and was followed by a second series, Riget II, which aired in November 1997. A belated third and final series of five episodes directed by von Trier and written by von Trier with Niels Vørsel, titled Riget: Exodus, began filming in 2021,[1][2] was screened out of competition at the Venice Film Festival and at the Serial Killer festival in September 2022,[3][4] and premiered in the Nordics on streaming platform Viaplay with the first two episodes on October 9. The series is expected to premiere in other select regions between November 27 and December 25 on streaming platform Mubi.[5]
Von Trier has credited David Lynch's 1990 television series Twin Peaks and the 1965 French miniseries Belphegor as inspirations for the series.[6]The Kingdom itself inspired an American series, Kingdom Hospital, developed by novelist Stephen King; the American version aired on ABC between March and July 2004, and was cancelled after a single season.
Plot synopsis
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Each episode of Riget and Riget II begins with the same prologue, detailing how the hospital, Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, was built on the site of the "bleaching ponds", which recur in the name of the street of the hospital's official address, Blegdamsvej, although the exact significance of the reference is never explicitly discussed in the series.
The show begins with the admission of a spiritualist patient, Sigrid Drusse (Kirsten Rolffes), who hears the sound of a girl crying in the elevator shaft. Upon investigation, Drusse discovers that the girl had died decades earlier, having been killed by her father to hide her illegitimacy. In order to put the spirit to rest, Drusse searches for the girl's body and ultimately finds it preserved in a specimen jar in the office of the hospital's professor of pathology, Professor Bondo (Baard Owe).
Meanwhile, neurosurgeon Stig Helmer (Ernst-Hugo Järegård), a recent appointee from Sweden to the neurosurgery department, tries to cover up his responsibility for a botched operation which left a young girl in a persistent vegetative state.
Pathologist Dr. Palle Bondo (Baard Owe) attempts to convince the family of a man dying from liver cancer to donate his liver to the hospital for Bondo's research. (In fact, Bondo wants it as a trophy, as it is the second largest hepatosarcoma ever recorded.) When his request is denied, Bondo has the cancerous liver transplanted into his own body (as the patient signed an organ donor form), so that the cancer will become his personal property and can be kept within the hospital.
Amongst other plotlines, a young medical student becomes attracted to the nurse in charge of the sleep research laboratory, a ghostly ambulance appears and disappears every night, a junior doctor runs a black market in medical supplies, and a neurosurgeon discovers that she was impregnated by a ghost and that the baby in her womb is developing abnormally rapidly. In every episode, two dishwashers (each with Down syndrome) in the cellar discuss the strange happenings at Riget, and Helmer screams his famous catchphrase: "Danskjävlar!" (subtitled as "Danish scum", but literally "Danish devils").
The third series, Riget: Exodus, introduces Dr. Helmer, Jr. (Mikael Persbrandt), the neurotic son of the late Stig Helmer, and a new addition to the staff of Riget.[7] Helmer Jr. is threatened with a lawsuit after making unwanted sexual advances to a female colleague in the hospital. He is threatened with a lawsuit, has to consult an expensive Swedish lawyer (Alexander Skarsgard) and faces professional disgrace unless he pays compensation to the woman whose false nipples he had so admired.[3]
German actor Udo Kier (pictured in 2018) appears in a dual role as the antagonist Åge Krüger, and his infant reincarnation Little BrotherLouise Fribo as Sanne Jeppesen (seasons 1–2)
Lars von Trier (uncredited) as himself, appearing in the end credits breaking the fourth wall, voice only in season 3, also Satan in season 3 - (seasons 1–3)
Production
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Riget: Exodus (2022)
In December 2020, DR announced that a third and final season of Riget, consisting of five episodes directed by Lars von Trier and co-written by von Trier with original series co-writer Niels Vørsel, would begin filming in 2021 under the title Riget: Exodus.[2] At the same year, von Trier started his symptoms of Parkinson's disease while he was interviewed with Christian Lund of Louisiana Channel,[8] where von Trier's body was shakened, before he continued working while taking his medications. Von Trier did not watch "all the old ones" before beginning work on Riget: Exodus, and had tried "to get rid of the ties from the old stuff", with the focus being on the characters.[9]
A newly remastered HD edition of the first two series was released in August 2022, prior to the premiere of the third series on Mubi on November 27, 2022. In September, Riget: Exodus (presented as a "five hour feature-length film")[9] screened out of competition at the Venice Film Festival, alongside Nicolas Winding Refn's miniseries Copenhagen Cowboy.[3]
Mrs. Drusse, a hypochondriac psychic, gets herself admitted to the Kingdom because she believes the hospital is haunted. Meanwhile, Dr. Helmer, a Dane-hating Swede under investigation for malpractice, joins the hospital's secret brethren.
2
"Alliancen kalder (Thy Kingdom Come)"
Lars von Trier, Morten Arnfred
Lars von Trier, Niels Vørsel, Tómas Gislason
December1,1994(1994-12-01)
Mrs. Drusse continues her investigation, Krogshøj steals the severed head from Mogge and uses it to blackmail him, while Bondo is at his wits' end when a patient's relative refuses to hand over his liver, which is infected with a rare cancer.
3
"Et fremmed legeme (A Foreign Body)"
Lars von Trier, Morten Arnfred
Lars von Trier, Niels Vørsel, Tómas Gislason
December8,1994(1994-12-08)
Dr. Helmer decides to steal the incriminating report but unbeknownst to him, Krogshøj has the same plan, Bondo wants to transplant the cancerous liver into himself, and Mrs. Drusse finds out Mary didn't die of tuberculosis as reported.
4
"De levende døde (The Living Dead)"
Lars von Trier, Morten Arnfred
Lars von Trier, Niels Vørsel, Tómas Gislason
December15,1994(1994-12-15)
Helmer goes to Haiti which angers his gun-wielding girlfriend, Judith may be pregnant with a ghost, Mrs. Drusse reburies Mary's remains but her troubles are only just beginning, and Operation Morning Breeze turns into a farcical disaster.
Helmer returns from Haiti with the zombie poison, but has trouble administering it, Mrs. Drusse is back in the Kingdom after being struck by a van, and Judith has to learn to love her deformed son, who is the reincarnation of Age Krüger.
6
"Trækfuglene (Birds of Passage)"
Lars von Trier, Morten Arnfred
Lars von Trier, Niels Vørsel
October17,1997(1997-10-17)
Mrs. Drusse has a new spiritual mystery to solve, and Judith has just given birth to a deformed baby with a fully formed adult head and a rapidly growing body.
7
"Gargantua"
Lars von Trier, Morten Arnfred
Lars von Trier, Niels Vørsel
October24,1997(1997-10-24)
Krogshøj is revived, Christian becomes the new Falcon, the Little Brother wants to die, and Mrs. Drusse, inspired by her son's dream, takes a flight around the hospital.
8
"Pandæmonium"
Lars von Trier, Morten Arnfred
Lars von Trier, Niels Vørsel
October31,1997(1997-10-31)
Helmer, blackmailed into marriage by Rigmor, kidnaps Mona, Krogshøj considers eugenics, Mrs. Drusse discovers a satanic sect beneath the hospital, Judith won't let her son die, Bondo finds his half-brother, and Christian races blind.
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2017)
Riget and Riget II
The four episode first series of Riget was aired by Danish broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR) from November 24 to December 15 1994.
The second series, Riget II, aired on DR between October 10 and 31 1997.
Riget: Exodus
The third series, Riget: Exodus, received its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September 2022, where it screened out of competition as a "five hour film". The series is expected to premiere on streaming platform Mubi on November 27 2022, with its fifth and final episode premiering on Christmas Day.[5]
Home media
The series was edited into a five hour, two-part film which received some theatrical screenings, and which was released on home video in America and the United Kingdom.[15]
The film is available on DVD in Australia and New Zealand on Madman Entertainment's Directors Suite label, in the UK from Second Sight, and in the United States from Koch-Lorber Films.[16]
Streaming
A newly restored HD edition of Riget and Riget II will premiere on Mubi on November 13 and November 20, 2022, respectively; the debut of the restored series is a precursor to the premiere of Riget: Exodus on the platform on November 27.
Reception
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Critical reception
On Metacritic, all of the three seasons has a weighted average score of 66 out of 100 from 5 reviews, indicating "generally positive reviews".[17]
Riget and Riget II
Film critic Leonard Maltin, who reviewed the two-part theatrical version, awarded it three and a half out of a possible four stars, calling it "a must-see for those who think they've seen everything".[18]
Despite being a miniseries, The Kingdom appears in the best-selling book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, where it is called "a medical horror epic", with its supernatural elements described as being both eerie and magical.[19]
On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the third season has an approval rating of 89% based on 9 reviews, and an average rating of 6.30/10.[20]
Riget: Exodus was warmly received by critics following its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September 2022, with Variety calling it "over-the-top" and "fun",[7] and the Italian Post praised the series, saying it "amuses and disturbs", and comparing it positively to Twin Peaks.[21]The Upcoming gave the series 3/5, praising its "dark humour" and noting that it feels like a "tribute to Lars von Trier's career, a revisiting of his early work... filled with the wobbly handheld shots that distinguished the Dogme 95 movement".[22] Giving it 3/5 stars, The Guardian called the series "a nightmarish revue, peppered with familiar faces in brief walk-on roles", and said that it is "fun to a point and richly textured to a fault, with a plot that’s entirely driven by what has gone before".[23]
Awards
Riget
1995 – Bodil Award – Best Actor (Ernst-Hugo Järegård), Best Actress (Kirsten Rolffes), Best Supporting Actor (Holger Juul Hansen), Best Film (Lars Von Trier)[24]
1995 – 30th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival – the film was nominated for the Crystal Globe and won the Best Director Award (Lars von Trier), and the Best Actor Award (Ernst-Hugo Järegård)[25]
1995 – Robert Award – Best Actor (Ernst-Hugo Järegård), Best Actress (Kirsten Rolffes), Best Cinematography (Eric Kress), Best Original Score (Joachim Holbek), Best Screenplay (Lars von Trier, Niels Vørsel), Best Sound (Per Streit)[24]
1995 – Seattle International Film Festival – Golden Space Needle Award for Best Film[citation needed]
1996 – Adolf Grimme Award – Series/Miniseries (Lars von Trier)[citation needed]
1996 – Golden Cable – Bronze Cable for Innovation (Lars von Trier)
Riget II
1998 - Bodil Award – Best Actor (Holger Juul Hansen), Best Supporting Actress (Birgitte Raaberg)[26]
1999 - Fantasporto – Best Screenplay (Lars von Trier), Best Director (Lars von Trier and Morten Arnfred)[27]
American adaptation
Main article: Kingdom Hospital
Horror novelist Stephen King discovered the five-hour theatrical edit of Riget in a video store during production of the 1997 TV miniseries adaptation of The Shining,[15] and, finding it "both funny and scary",[28] promptly set out to obtain the rights to the series for an American adaptation. At that time, the rights were owned by Columbia Pictures, who had intended to adapt the series as a two hour theatrical film. King negotiated with Columbia for the rights, ultimately exchanging them for the option to his novella "Secret Window, Secret Garden" (which Columbia adapted in 2004 as the feature film Secret Window).[15]
King's thirteen episode television adaptation of Riget, titled Kingdom Hospital, was broadcast between March and July 2004 on ABC. Often directly adapting storylines from the original series, Kingdom Hospital was set in a hospital in Lewiston, Maine, which was on the site of a mill built before the Civil War. Many character names were derived from their Danish equivalents, e.g., Sigrid Drusse became Sally Druse and Stig Helmer became Dr. Stegman. In a departure from the plot of Riget, the American series introduces a new main character, a comatose patient, Peter Rickman, inspired by King's own experience of being hit by a minivan,[15] and a talking giant anteater, the spirit guide Anubis/Antubis.
Although King and co-writer Richard Dooling developed an outline for a second series, ratings dropped throughout the season. Kingdom Hospital was placed on indefinite hiatus following a "major network shake-up", and was never picked up for a second series.[28]
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