Review of Breaking the Waves (2014) by Nick O — 14 Jun 2013

"Powerhouse" doesn't even begin to describe the emotional drive of Lars von Trier's "Breaking the Waves". It's more like every variation or synonym of "powerhouse" emphasized times a thousand; a force of nature. Also, like a great piece of literature, "Waves" is a big movie -- 156 minutes, lucidly filmed, grainy. In other words, not easy on the eyes. That doesn't even scratch the movie's sexual explicitness, some of the most graphic and incredible ever put to film. Not to say von Trier uses it for purposes empty or lost. But is it exactly empowering to see the softhearted and unstable Bess (Emily Watson, in her Oscar-nominated feature debut) dole out increasingly brutal sexual favors to strangers for sake of, she believes, saving her oilman husband Jan (Stellan Skarsgaard) from a (literal and karma) coma?

"Breaking the Waves" is a masterpiece. It's one of those films where, I'm not even sure what to make of it. It feels scripture, a religious parable you might find in some sacred text but that challenges both the authority and compassion of God. Watching this, it isn't told in a way that seems to doubt His existence, which is why it wouldn't be out of the question for "Waves" to be shown as part of a clerical curriculum of some sort. Set in the 1970s Scottish Highlands, an omnipresent power seems to be there, but man, is it ever silent. This movie feels so cold, so distant, but by the end, it seems to signal something, the foolishness of the elders of Bess' super-devout church, of man in general, I don't know. The ending could also mean hope, that people like Bess, whose only crime was being "too good" a person, are evidence of earthly powers; of miracles.

Speaking of the movie alone now, I found myself also wondering what happened to Emily Watson. But then before writing this, I guess I never realized what a fantastic career she's had. "Gosford Park", "Punch-Drunk Love", "Synecdoche, New York", even 2011's "War Horse". She lost the Oscar for "Breaking the Waves" to Frances McDormand in "Fargo". With Kristin Scott Thomas for "The English Patient" up that year, too, I don't know who I'd pick. Von Trier is an insane filmmaker and deserves his rank among the best still working today. That he went on to make movies that were good, let alone JUST AS GOOD as "Breaking the Waves" speaks to his mind-boggling talent. It's an epic, a must-see, a lyrical love song that, in showing us the ambiguity of the dark, is a gift of thought, poetry and power. Let it break you. Despite it all, it's a blessing.