Review of Breaking the Waves (2014) by Byron B — 10 Aug 2010

Although not technically a Dogme 95 flim, Breaking the Waves utlizes many of the principles of the movement to startling effect. Shot only with available light on cheap, grainy filmstock and with music only during the brief minute-long chapter breaks, Breaking the Waves is a powerful exploration of love, identity, social norms, and--most importantly--the power of faith.

Like many of Lars von Trier's films, Breaking the Waves probably is most famous for being transgressive; that is, it features elements of sexuality or violence that are deemed inappropriate by the majority body of the flim critc circle.

Breaking the Waves isn a flim as naked as the scenes within it--it is a film that strips people down to their emotional core. Consequently, it is a harrowingly beautiful deconstruction of all the best and worst things that make us human: love is paired with servitude, faith is paired with naivety, etc.

Its love story of a man who becomes paralyzed and a woman who sleeps with other men to meet his demands becomes an existential fable about the nature of our relationships with other people and the possibility of true love.

Emily Watson's performance is so brilliant that books could be written about it, and the film ultimately leaves us in an ambiguous position to determine whether or not our faiths are valid or not.

Breaking the Waves once again proves that von Trier is a master filmmaker and storyteller who has the power to equally take us to other worlds or force us to reconsider our own.