Review of Breaking the Waves (2014) by Robin M — 21 Oct 2010

American movies almost never examine deep into the core of human emotions. And I also believe that the people who hate Hollywood the most in terms of morality and ambition are the filmmakers themselves. European movies always seem to take their actors and scripts seriously, while American films tend to focus on whatever it takes to keep the studios alive, even if its just blackmailing audiences to fill up seats. And if the Danish-Swedish drama Breaking the Waves never was seen by American audiences, it is because Hollywood blockbusters never gave them a chance. And the fact I seeked it out when nobody else dared probably caused me to declare it one of my top 10 favorite movies of all time. Another title I could use is "the best film nobody else saw".

Breaking the Waves is an extraordinary, remarkable and emotionally striking film. But in some ways, the movie is also dislikeable. Writer-director Lars von Trier, who never once visited the United States, and cameraman Robby Muller use a raw, grainy approach to tell a story about a naive young woman in Northern Scotland who marries a Scandinavian oil rig worker. The movie was shot entirely handheld and by natural lighting. It almost gives you the impression you were watching a 1970s home video with poor edits and almost no sound improvements. (You hear the camera rolling in the background throughout the picture.) I believe the reason for this unusually realistic style of camerawork is to show how pure the characters' love truly is. I certainly never saw a movie so pure and spiritual like this one before.

The marriage of Bess (Emily Watson) and Jan (Stellan Skarsgard) is the main focus with Breaking the Waves. It opens straight away with the wedding ceremony after the local town parish questions Bess why she's doing this. Nobody in the town has ever heard of Jan before. Nothing is really said about how these two met or how they fell in love. The movie is only interested in presenting their love, not providing it.

Bess loses her virginity, and her innocence, right away after the marriage vows. A good 30 minutes into the movie and we already see how passionate they are sexually, something Bess never experieced before. Perhaps her new experiences link up with the fact the townspeople always worship God the same way and gather inside a church with an empty belltower. "We do not need bells in our church to worship God." the high priest tells Jan when asking why that is. To not use bells at a church is one thing but a church with a belltower without bells is surely telling us something. And I will assume the Pharisees will be immediately offended by the way the movie depicts the town's sect, especially when Bess has numerous, almost schizophrenic, conversations with God.

Soon Jan has to go back to work on the offshore rig and knowing how naive Bess is from the beginning, she throws constant temper tantrums. It's like she's still a little girl and everyone around her, including her alterego as God, keeps telling her she must learn to be a good girl. Her communications almost perform miracles, as Jan comes home in a matter of days. However, Jan comes back because he is paralyzed from an accident on the rig and Bess immediately feels responsible. It's like she gets her wish but has to have consequences to go along. But one day, Jan asks her to do something very strange - to have sex with another man and tell him about it, which would help him recover. At this point the movie makes serious observations with its themes, and by the end we see exactly what kind of miracles God has planned for us.

Breaking the Waves carries many psychological themes, both spiritual and sexual, and presents them in almost unhindered effectiveness. Because the subject matter is not pleasant and very hard to handle, many people will be turned off by this movie. It is not for everyone. The difference here is that Hollywood tends to make movies suitable for everyone and for this to be appropriate for others would surely ruin the film. Not all realms are fun to explore, and some issues people never want to get into or go over. That's part of the soul of mankind - not everything or everyone is perfect. Bess is a strong woman of faith, even when people say she is weak, and she both understands and does not understand the world she lives in, just like the world is no more understanding of Bess either. And though we may never fully understand Bess ourselves, she has a greater knowledge of what kind of power or love God is. Some may call the movie blasphemous, but it deals with spiritual themes containing more questions than answers. Answers only Bess would sure know.