The Idiots

The Idiots

Year: 1998

Runtime: 114 mins

Language: Danish

DramaComedy

Presented through a blend of home‑video and documentary footage, the film follows a group of young people who deliberately explore their “inner‑idiots.” By confronting and dismantling their outward personas, they also challenge deeper, hidden aspects of themselves, suggesting that society itself nurtures foolishness.

Warning: spoilers below!

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Timeline – The Idiots (1998)

Trace every key event in The Idiots (1998) with our detailed, chronological timeline. Perfect for unpacking nonlinear stories, spotting hidden connections, and understanding how each scene builds toward the film’s climax. Whether you're revisiting or decoding for the first time, this timeline gives you the full picture.

1

Spassing begins in a restaurant

A seemingly anti-bourgeois group of adults begins a disruptive performance in public, mimicking disability. They call their act 'spassing' and Susanne acts as their handler, trying to keep order. The restaurant scene shows the patrons disturbed by their antics and the boundary between performance and reality becoming blurred.

Evening Restaurant
2

Karen misreads the act as genuine disability

Karen, a single diner, is initially sympathetic to what she believes are genuine disabilities. She slowly suspects the act may be staged, which unsettles her and draws her further into the group's orbit.

Evening Restaurant
3

Taxi ride to the house

One group member grasps Karen's hand and insists she join a taxi ride, pulling her into their world. During the ride, she discovers the act is a performance, not a real impairment.

Night Taxi
4

Arrival at the large house

They arrive at a large house that is supposedly for sale by Stoffer's uncle, but it becomes the group's base for their provocations. The house serves as the focal point for their 'spassing' activities.

Evening Large house
5

Stoffer's birthday party and the gangbang plan

At Stoffer's birthday party, he openly wishes for a 'gangbang' and the group agrees to have group sex, excluding Karen. The event showcases the group's defiance of conventional boundaries.

Night Stoffer's house / birthday party
6

Josephine and Jeppe's private encounter

Josephine wanders off with Jeppe, and the two privately engage in intercourse, forging an awkward but deep connection. The morning after, their secret complicates relationships within the group.

Night to morning Large house
7

Josephine's father arrives and reprimands

Josephine's father arrives, chastising the group and reprimanding Josephine for not taking her medication. He also orders her to return home.

Next morning Large house
8

Jeppe's attempted intervention

An agitated Jeppe lunges onto the hood of a car in a desperate bid to stop Josephine from leaving; the moment ends with a tearful exchange before his removal.

Morning House exterior / car
9

The group dissolves

Following the confrontation, most members refuse to let idiocy invade daily life and begin to depart, leading to the group's dissolution.

Morning Large house
10

Karen commits to the challenge

Karen decides to take up the group's challenge and leads Susanne back to her house. This marks her commitment to the transgressive experiment as Susanne accompanies her.

After dissolution Karen's house
11

Karen returns home after two weeks

Karen returns after two weeks, having been missing following the death of her baby, and offers no explanation for her absence. Her unexpected return shocks her family.

Two weeks later Karen's house
12

Spas attempt and departure

She attempts to spaz in front of her family by dribbling her food, but her husband slaps her violently. Karen and Susanne leave the house together.

Immediately after return Karen's house

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 11:17

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Movies about transgressive social experiments like The Idiots

Films where social experiments push boundaries and end in emotional rupture.If you were fascinated by the boundary-pushing social experiments in The Idiots, explore more movies about radical communities and nonconformist groups. These films delve into the raw, often painful consequences of living outside societal norms and the eventual breakdown of these alternative families.

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Movies about performance and identity like The Idiots

Stories where characters adopt roles that unravel their true selves.For viewers who appreciated The Idiots' exploration of 'spassing' as a performance that reveals deeper trauma, this collection features movies about characters using roles to escape or understand themselves. These are intense, character-driven stories where acts of performance lead to emotional revelation or breakdown.

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The narrative pattern involves a character or group using a sustained performance—be it a lie, a role, or an experiment—as a coping mechanism or a form of rebellion. The story's tension builds as the performance inevitably cracks, forcing a reckoning with the authentic, often wounded, individual beneath the facade.

Why These Movies?

Movies are grouped here by their shared thematic focus on the fragility of identity, the psychological cost of performance, and a heavy emotional weight derived from the clash between constructed personas and raw, underlying truth.

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The Idiots Summary

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The Idiots Summary

Characters, Settings & Themes in The Idiots

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Characters, Settings & Themes in The Idiots

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More About The Idiots

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