TotalTelly.co.uk
Devoted to Popular, Cult and Retro TV
Breaking The Waves [1996]
![Breaking The Waves [1996]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Y9JHPCPDL._SL160_.jpg)
RRP: £12.99
Our Price: £3.00 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
Set in an unmercifully rugged, coastal village in Scotland in the 1970s, this extraordinary film by Lars von Trier stars British actress Emily Watson as a barely contained naive named Bess, who holds regular conversations with God and whose pure and intensely personal faith is hardly tolerated by the gruesome Calvinist elders of her church. Bess marries an oil-rig worker (Stellan Skarsgard) and comes to believe that erotic discovery is a part of God's grand plan. But after her spouse is hurt in an accident, she decides that divine instruction is leading her toward the life of a prostitute--with disastrous but somehow beautiful results. Von Trier (The Kingdom) has made a wonderful, entirely unexpected, and rigorous work of discovery in this film, with a formal visual design that recalls classic films by Carl Theodor Dreyer and Robert Bresson. Watson is a phenomenon, her wide-eyed wonder at the world as God's handiwork a breathtaking portrayal of conviction. --Tom Keogh
superb movie
Review date: 2008-10-15 Rating: 10 out of 10
The acting is superb,wonderful cinematography,a story which makes you laugh in some places and cry in others.A gem of a film and a bargain at the price.
Similar Products
Reviews
Outstanding
Review date: 2008-05-17 Rating: 10 out of 10
I'm not a fan of "artsy" type films and this is usually the kind that falls into the category of them.
Bess, a naive virginal highly religious woman marries an Oil Rig worker called Jan and begins a journey of sexual discovery and realisation. When he goes away to work back on the rig, she falls into a deep depression and holds conversations with God begging for his return.
Her prayers are answered but not in the way she'd wished - Jan returns home having been in a tragic accident and is paralysed for what the Doctors advise her could be life.
Jan tries to be selfless and tells her to go out with other men, to have erotic encounters, but to come back and tell him about them as it is the only real pleasure he has left is to hear about them.
Bess does as she is told and is struck with the idea somehow that whenever she has an erotic encounter with a stranger and comes back to tell Jan his condition improves but if she does not he will worsen.
Thinking this is God's divine intervention, she goes out seeking - awkwardly - for men to be with in the hopes that it will lead to Jan's full recovery, only each encounter has dire consequences for her, and will lead her into a downward spiral which she cannot climb back up.
The film leaves you feeling like you've just read an epic novel (the parts of the film are in chapters), and the performances are staggering. The ending of this movie will blow you away, and leave you thinking.
An insult
Review date: 2008-04-10 Rating: 2 out of 10
This film is an insult to the viewer. There is absolutely no redeeming factors here, and it seems that the only point of making this film is to see how much filth you can get away with.
Didn't expect to but loved it
Review date: 2008-03-10 Rating: 10 out of 10
This is quite a hard film to watch but perseverance pays off.The synopsis and previous reviews are explanatory so I won't repeat previous comments except to concur with the view that Emily Watson is fantastic. I had never heard of her but will actively seek her other work.
A different kind of film...
Review date: 2008-01-25 Rating: 6 out of 10
Breaking the Waves is a rather unusual film. It has a strange feel and a dark aura to it - so much so that it makes Eastenders look fun. The core of the story is that Bess, a local lass from a small village somewhere in the north of Scotland, falls in love with Jan - a Norwegian oil rig worker in a sheepskin jacket. They get married and all is well until Jan goes offshore again and is paralysed after getting caught up in a childish prank whilst on his rig.
Bess is a bit mentally unstable at the best of times, but this throws her over the edge and she becomes acutely mentally ill.
The situation is not helped by the fact that her paralysed husband can no longer meet her sexual demands and so actively encourages her to find other partners - anybody really, as long as the intricate details are relayed back to him while he is laid up in his hospital bed.
This is where things go from bad to worse: in a small village she is perceived as the local hooker and there is a classic scene on a public bus with a complete (and old) stranger. I won't spoil it for you. A strict Protestant faith is dominant in the village as well, so you can imagine how her behaviour turns heads.
Overall, this is watchable and it has a cruel twist at the end (which I suppose, in truth, you can kind of see coming to an extent).
Breaking the Waves is unusual, but small budget films like this are a refreshing change sometimes from the expensive bells and whistles of Hollywood.
If you like British films and/or black comedies then go for it.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Adrian Rawlins
Katrin Cartlidge
Emily Watson
Stellan Skarsgård
Jean-Marc Barr
Creators:
Emily Watson (Primary Contributor)
Stellan Skarsgård (Primary Contributor)
Lars von Trier (Writer)
Axel Helgeland (Producer)
Lars Jönsson (Producer)
Marianne Slot (Producer)
Peter Aalbæk Jensen (Producer)
David Pirie (Writer)
Peter Asmussen (Writer)
Director(s):
Recording label: Pathe Distribution
Manufacturer: Pathe Distribution
EAN: 5060002830680
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2003-09-01
Number of discs: 1
Audience rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 153 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1996-11-13
Language: English (Original Language)