Breaking The Waves Details

Nothing short of a masterpiece.

Whether you see this film as a retelling of the Joan of Arc story or a study of the power of faith you can't get away from it's power. It is both ugly and beautiful and completely riveting for all of it's 153 minutes. The often commented on performance by Emily Watson is quite breathtaking, I can only think that the reason she never picked up the Oscar she was nominated for was because of the controversial nature of the subject matter.

Although he is meant to be a nightmare, it's no wonder the Hollywood A-list wants to work with Lars Von Trier, his films are simply a cut above the rest.

Emily Watson plays Bess, a sweet simple-minded girl whose life revolves around her village's Calvinist church where women clean but aren't heard. Bess causes some friction when she falls for Jan, an outsider who works on the offshore oil rigs, but the couple marry nonetheless and are blissfully happy. However after only a few weeks of marriage Jan is paralysed by an accident on the rig, and as he loses his grip on reality he begins demanding that Bess have sex with other men so she can tell him the grubby details. Convinced that she's helping him recover, Bess succumbs, and begins a terrible descent.

There's a lot to like about Breaking The Waves. It's a sincere, passionate film that deals with real human issues. The performances are strong, particularly Emily Watson and Katrin Cartlidge. The visual style is appropriate for the material; gritty and realistic throughout, but with a few magical touches which really stand out, such as the painted title boards. And there are some great scenes, for instance one moment at Bess's wedding when one of Jan's pals tries to mock one of the village elders by downing a beer and crushing the can; the old man stares back and crushes a glass in his hand.

However despite these positives Breaking The Waves is a film that very few will want to watch again because it's resoundingly grim and extremely slow. The plot only really gets going after Jan's accident, which comes after more than an hour of exposition. Bess appears to be a deluded simpleton, which makes it almost impossible to empathise with her, and makes the plot doubly harrowing. In the end, the film's message is a depressing one, and Breaking The Waves is a sad, sordid tale.