Review of Breaking the Waves (2014) by Sanford R — 27 Dec 2008
A love story as only the man behind Dogville and Manderlay could write it. The story concerns a young, sheltered, highly religious girl who marries an oil-rig worker and devotes herself to him. What follows is a fascinating look at faith, doubt, religion, love, and everything in between.
Von Trier is brilliant at this kind of thing, giving us an innocent we can identify with, and plunging her into a situation that tests us all. The Christ/Joan of Arc parallels are clear here, but the film simply would not work without the galvanizing, gripping, stunning performance that Emily Watson gives as Bess.
Von Trier may be a control freak and a provocateur, but when he can evoke such strong feelings out of me, I will defend his films to the death--and this is a fantastic film, make no mistake about it.
This review of Breaking the Waves (2014) was written by Sanford R on 27 Dec 2008.
Breaking the Waves has generally received positive reviews.
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