Review of Breaking the Waves (1996) by Lisa K — 18 Aug 2014

This is a powerful story that left me thinking about the plot for a very long time. I won't discuss the plot as it is available on most reviews. The main character is Bess played by Emily Watson. She does a fantastic job as a woman who is very in touch with her core feelings and those feeling propel all her actions.

She is seen by her community as simple and mentally unstable. However, it becomes apparent that society has learned to dull and numb themselves to the rawest of emotions. Bess feels those emotions and acts on them, so when she shows emotion, she appears unbalanced.

However, I feel that she was the most stable and in touch with her deepest self and therefore was propelled to goodness. She is deeply in love with her husband and this love is so great that nothing else matters.

She can't find herself without her husband. Her husband gets injured and becomes severely disabled. He wants to kill himself because he can't sexually satisfy his wife. He asks Bess to sleep with other men and then tell him about it.

This way, he will feel the experience and it is like the two of them being together. The church elders, her family and her doctor think that her husband is mentally manipulating her and she is so weak that she can't make the correct decision for herself.

The audience feels Bess' thoughts and intentions and realizes that she is not crazy. I think that the connections that are made in her husbands brain to his body through her stories helps him to heal.

There isn't another review that made this connection. Over time, her husband improves but the story has a tragic ending. This is a story of triumph for love and deep beliefs and makes a quiet mockery of strict organized Christianity and society's attitudes on hiding your emotions.