Breaking The Waves

Lars von Trier, Denmark 1996, 158 minutes

Breaking The Waves is a story about people and emotions. There is no good or bad - only misunderstandings.

Very different from director Lars Von Trier's previous work, Breaking The Waves follows the life of Bess (Emily Watson), an innocent young woman living in a tightly knit community on Skye. She has led a sheltered life, protected by her family and her recently widowed sister-in-law, but finds happiness when she meets Jan (Stellan Skarsgard), an oil-rig worker. Despite local opposition, they marry and after a brief but intense period Jan returns to the rig. Bess however cannot cope with being apart and prays to God for Jan to come back to her. Her wishes are cruelly answered when Jan suffers a terrible accident on the rig and returns to Skye. Convinced he will be paralysed for the rest of his life, he urges her to find another lover. However, the community feels she is sinning in the eyes of God and she is abandoned and exiled. Even so, her faith leads her to believe that a miracle can bring Jan back.

Breaking the Waves functions on many levels, the twin themes of love and faith intertwining through most of the film. Bess' naiveté and innocence is touching, but at odds with the real world we and the other characters in the film inhabit. Emily Watson stepped into the key role of Bess and made the role her own after Helena Bonham Carter pulled out. It was a difficult part to play but Watson manages to convey the determination and resolve behind the apparently weak Bess.

In essence though, the film is carried by the windswept scenery and by Von Trier's sheer audacity. Structured as a set of chapters, each part of the film is prefixed by the most beautiful intertitles whilst surprisingly fitting seventies music plays in the background; the cinematography of many of the sections is largely in contrast to this (Mostly shot with a handheld camera, it is no suprise to find that the same team were responsible for the surreal The Kingdom, often described as a cross between ER and Twin Peaks).

Nothing though, can take away from the sheer self-belief which, like Bess, this film carries; in the end you don't know whether to laugh or cry. One of the most heartfelt releases of last year.

Review by Neil Chue Hong
Taken from EUFS Programme 1997-98