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Film: Breaking The Waves
Director: Lars Von Trier
Country: Denmark
Released: May 1996
Runtime: 158 minutes
Genre: Drama
Studio: Zentropa Entertainments
Influenced: Thomas Vinterberg, Xavier Dolan, Lynne Ramsay, Andrea Arnold, Ari Aster
Considered one of the flagship films of the Dogme 95 school, a Danish film movement founded by Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, Breaking the Waves actually didn't adhere all that tightly to the "vow of chastity" rules in the movement's March 1995 manifesto. Some aspects of the new doctrine, such as a focus on naturalism and minimalism, including the use of handheld cameras and natural lighting, can be clearly seen in Breaking The Waves, but other aspects – like the rejection of post-dubbing and CGI – were ignored by von Trier. This is to the movie's benefit, especially in the wonderful chapter title scenes, which feature evocative images of the natural landscape overlaid with music by the likes of Leonard Cohen, T. Rex, Deep Purple, Elton John and David Bowie. Often the film has a raw and unpolished look, with lots of blurry, intimate close-ups of the characters, helping to create a real sense of authenticity.
Breaking the Waves is set in a remote village in the Scottish Highlands in the 1970s and follows Bess McNeill (Emily Watson), a deeply religious, kind and simple woman. Bess falls in love with Jan (Stellan Skarsgård), an offshore oil rig worker and outsider in the community, and despite resistance among the church community the two eventually marry. Tragically, Jan becomes paralysed in an oil rig accident, leaving him bedridden and unable to satisfy Bess' emotional and physical needs. To help Jan, Bess believes she must perform acts of self-sacrifice, convinced that her actions can heal him. Her devotion leads her to engage in increasingly dangerous and degrading sexual acts, all in the belief that her actions are an expression of love and faith. The film is notable for its use of a subjective camera, where the audience sees the events primarily through the eyes of the main protagonist, Bess.
This technique intensifies the emotional experience for the viewer, creating a sense of immersion in her world. Bess' wedding to Jan is a poignant and emotional scene that sets the stage for her devotion to him, but we also see how this deep affection makes her emotionally unstable, as evidenced especially in her relationship with God, which verges on the schizophrenic. After his accident, Jan tells Bess that he’s finished and that she should take a lover, but she can never divorce him. Von Trier would go on to make more daring and controversial movies but there’s still something shocking in Breaking The Waves about Bess’ sexual liberation within the context of an austere Christian community. When she dresses up sexily for the pub, the local punters think she’s a prostitute. Word gets round the village and this leads to Biblical talk of Bess being cast out from her community; even her mother disowns her.
Von Trier doesn't just take aim at religion but also other forms of organised power, including the medical community, as represented by the doctor who faces a legal reckoning at the end of the film for consigning Bess to a mental institution. Essentially, the film is about sexual repression and its consequences. Breaking The Waves closes with a moment of magical realism, the sounding of the bells in heaven making for a surreal and sublime ending. The film received critical acclaim and was a major success at Cannes in 1996, winning the Grand Prix and garnering a well-deserved Best Actress award for Emily Watson. Breaking The Waves was the first instalment in von Trier's Golden Heart Trilogy, followed by The Idiots (1998) and Dancer in the Dark (2000). In all honesty, I find many of von Trier's later films too heavy on the misanthropy and misogyny, and his reputation as a "provocateur" a bit tiresome, but I have a lot of time for Breaking The Waves, a film that is redeemed by the quality of Watson and Skarsgård's performances.
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