The Idiots - Plot

Plot

A seemingly anti-bourgeois group of adults spend their time seeking their "inner idiot" to release their inhibitions. They do so by behaving in public as if they were developmentally disabled. The Idiots is not concerned with actual disability, or with distinguishing between mental retardation and physical impairment.

At a restaurant, patrons are disturbed by the group's mischief, but single diner Karen develops an appreciation of their antics. The members of the group refer to this behaviour as 'spassing', a neologism derived from 'spasser', the Danish equivalent of 'spaz' and an offensive slur. Karen takes a ride in a taxi cab with the people from the restaurant, and she finds herself at a big house. The apparent leader of the group, Stoffer, is supposed to be selling the house (which belongs to his uncle), but instead it becomes the focal point for group activities.

The 'spassing' is a self-defeating attempt by the group to challenge the establishment through provocation. The self-styled idiots feel that the society-at-large treats their intelligence uncreatively and unchallengingly; thus, they seek the uninhibited self-expression that they imagine a romantic ideal of disability will allow.

Stoffer, at his birthday party, wishes for a 'gangbang', and both clothes and inhibitions are soon discarded. But when Stoffer calls for the group members to let idiocy invade their personal daily lives, only Karen takes up the challenge. She takes Susanne back to her house, where they are greeted by surprise by Karen's mother. Karen had been missing for two weeks, following the death of her young baby; she offers no explanation of where she has been. Karen attempts to spass in front of her family by dribbling the food she is eating, but this results in a violent slap from her husband, Anders. Karen and Susanne leave the house.