Customer Reviews

Breaking The Waves: The Original Soundtrack Album

5 star:		(97)
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2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

This is the story about love. Everyday we experience this breathtaking emotion with both inanimate objects and with other souls. It is when we finally find true love that nothing else in the world seems worthy or good. We work as hard as we can to continue this warmth that we feel in our hearts when true love exists, and sometimes that means going to a level we never thought imaginable.

That is the central theme of Lars von Trier's epic, Breaking the Waves. Love has no boundaries as we watch Bess do everything possible (and more) to keep the relationship with her husband together during the roughest of times. Emily Watson controls the character Bess giving her best performance ever. The emotion and serenity that is felt, not only behind the character of Bess, but also behind Watson's eyes is phenomenal. It is not often that Hollywood is able to capture this sort of raw emotion, but Watson pulled it off with incredible talent.

Outside of Watson's character, there is the story. Lars von Trier does a spectacular job of continually building on the foundation that he has begun. Watson is his foundation, and Trier builds this amazing world around her. In this film, everything from talking to God to reverberating stories to her husband while he is in the hospital only helps build the story to even higher heights. I will be honest; I shed tears at the end of this film. It will pull at every heart muscle that you have and really make you look at your significant other and truly feel the power of love.

This is a love story, but not like one we have seen in a very long time. I don't think we will see anything similar to this again. It will be hard for Hollywood to emulate such raw talent, groundbreaking direction, and life-changing story.

Thank you Lars von Trier for your imagination and passion for love.

Grade: ***** out of *****

Bess McNeil (Emily Watson) is a naive woman who was brought up in an oppressive environment with patriarchal Christian believes where Christian rules are worshipped above all else. Nonetheless, Bess gets the Church elders approval, after some hesitation, to marry an outsider. This outsider is Jan Nyman (Stellan Skarsgård), an oil rig worker on the North Sea. Bess and Jan are so much in love that Bess declares her love for Jan in the bathroom of their reception by saying "You can love me now!", which leads to Bess loosing her virginity. This is the beginning of her sexual transformation as her love expands for Jan and in appreciation she thanks God for the gift of love that he has given her. However, the honeymoon must come to an end as Jan must return to the oil rig to earn a living. On the oil rig Jan is seriously injured in an accident, which leads the audience into a relentlessly tragic story about faith, loss, and love.

Breaking the Waves is broken up in different chapters and in between the chapters von Tier uses scenic shots that are artistically enhanced. These shots cue the audience on the upcoming chapter as it deals with different issues around Bess and Jan's relationship. The film is shot in a Dogma 95 style that von Tier introduced to the public in 1995, which adds to the realism of the story. In addition, the cast performs brilliantly as they help paint the true vision of Lars von Tier in a brilliant cinematic experience that some will love and some will hate as the story forces the audience to choose a side.

"Breaking the Waves" is one of the best films I've ever seen -- I have added it to my list of top ten best films ever (right up there with "Citizen Kane" and "The Piano"). It is not for the faint of heart, however, nor is it recommended for those who like their movie endings tied up neatly. The film has stayed with me and continues to raise questions about the nature of faith, the power of religion and community, and the meaning of love. Emily Watson's performance was pure and sincere -- she should have won an Oscar. The breaks between "chapters" filled with great music and breathtaking scenery were an inspired device to give the viewer a necessary breather, a moment to allow the previous scenes to sink in. This movie will stay with me for a very long time. If you liked "The Piano" or "The Rapture," then I strongly recommend "Breaking the Waves."

Lars Von Trier's "Breaking the Waves" is a unique film in both its style and its story. Von Trier has been accused of making films simply to showcase his eccentric directorial techniques. I strongly disagree. He certainly is unconventional but the audience can almost always feel that he strongly cares about his characters and the story he's trying to tell.

The film is shot as a documentary, but Von Trier makes that work very well. The film tells the story of Bess whose love has no limits and knows no boundries. Her decisions are always influenced by her own definition of her own faith. Emily Watson is extraordinary in the scenes where she talks to God. Her performance is truly one of the greatest I've seen in a while. Her eyes seem to light up whenever she's happy and dim down whenever she's sad. Stellan Skarsgard as Jan and Katrin Cartlidge as Dodo also give fine performances.

We are confronted by many philosophical questions throughout the film. Questions like: can our beliefs be so strong that they give us the power to triumph over anything and everything? I don't think that many of us know the answer to that but Bess sure does.

I think the film is a must see. Challenging films are such a rare experience nowadays.

Lars von Trier is not known for conventional films. If anything his films court controversy and push the envelope on what is acceptable and appropriate in films. Some of his Danish works, which are less well known, like a strange film called Idioterne, are positively shocking. Breaking the Waves is more mainstream but by no means conventional. The story tells of a naïve and mentally unstable young woman named Bess MacNeil (played startlingly by Emily Watson). She has been reared in a very conservative and religious community (women are not allowed to speak in the church, people are judged harshly by the church, and they can easily be shunned for their activities. Outsiders are not easily welcomed into this community). Bess marries an oil rig worker named Jan (an excellent Stellan Skarsgard. He is an outsider to the community and is not easily accepted. The beginning of the film tells the tale of their marriage, Bess's exploration of sexuality with her new husband, Bess's childlike innocence and mental instability... and how she copes (or does not cope) with Jan's frequent absences. Eventually Jan succumbs to an accident on the oil rig and has to return home. He is hospitalised and is paralysed, and it is thought that he will be paralysed for life. He cannot bear to see his wife especially knowing that he cannot perform his husbandly duties, so he convinces her to go out and experiment sexually with as many men as she can. He convinces her that this helps him when really he is trying to do it for her. Not to add that he is doped up on pain medication. Soon the town learns of her activities and she is shunned from the society. The end is heartbreaking and the ironic twist at the end is painful. Lars von Trier cannot be faulted for his creative vision, despite what you make think of this film or his other films. Most of them are love them or hate them ventures, and Breaking the Waves is no exception.

I thought this was a very interesting film and had no problem sitting through its ~2 and 1/2 hours. Others have written they thought it was "slow" and even "grotesque", but it really made me think in a way that the quicker-paced and glossier Hollywood fare these "reviewers" seem to like never would have. We all have the capacity to be too judgmental and this film reminded me of the need to slow down and be a little more generous of my fellow man. The religion practiced by some of the characters seemed devoid of mercy and forgiveness, which made it into something not very divine and doomed to probably never bring anyone any redemption or grace. I'm not a religious person and part of the reason is I can't see myself throwing in my lot with the "elders" or people like them, who seem to have commandeered something intended to bring us together through understanding and turned it into something that shackles through shame and fear. Obviously, Bess had a lot of problems and she needed the understanding of her community, not their grim sanctimony--and really, they needed her, too. Bess had at least two things none of them had: Her capacity for all-conquering hope and belief and her ability to experience overwhelming love for other human beings. It turned out to be what destroyed her, but if those around her had understood her they could have protected her and found a way to enrich their bleak society with her talents. All communities need hope and love and that community had it in shorter supply than most. They really lost something by not being equipped to keep her around.

Anyway, this film wouldn't offend me if I were a practicing Christian, and didn't offend me as a lapsed one. It was very respectful of faith, and so, very respecful of its main character (who was faith incarnate). I think it would make many practicing Christians think about just what it is they are practicing and whether or not it seems to be what Christ intended. I know that it made at least one lapsed Christian wonder if maybe he was too hasty and is missing out on something, after all.

One of the best films I have every seen--Emily Watson tears up the screen with her performance as a simple, devout woman in touch with her deeply, startlingly sensual self. Expertly pitted against the unforgiving climate of Scotland's coast and the wrath of church elders is the warm, enormous-eyed innocence of Bess with her intense, lushly erotic sensuality. This performance is raw, she exposes her soul; you almost see and feel her nerve endings. It is about devotion and honor, cruelty and hatred, and the hypocrisy of the church. Bess gives everything she has, and never doubts that it's too much. Watson's performance feels like a knife in your heart.

Breaking the Waves, written and directed by Lars Von Trier Dancer in The Dark is a film with such poignant sentiment. The 1996 dramatic movie is about the confines of strict religion, mental illness, confusion, prostitution, and the power of love and healing.

Bess McNeil, deeply loves, obsesses and marries Jan (pronounced Yan) an oil rig worker. When an accident brings him back paralyzed, presumably forever, her pure naïve innocent and childlike happiness takes an unspeakable turn with devastating consequences. Emily Watson gives a persuasive portrayal as Bess; veteran actor Stellan Skarsgard plays her husband Jan; and Dodo Katrin Cartlidge is excellent as her real true friend and sister-in-law.

Jan convinced of his demise, unable to make love to Beth and orders her to have sex with other men and to come back and tell him about it. This, he says, is the only way he can make love to her and to further stipulate, he says he will die if she doesn't.

There aren't any clear answers as to why Jan asks his wife to do this. Is he delusional, perverted, or does he really feel Bess will be better without him? Does Jan really love Bess so much that he is willing to set her free, or is he thinking of only himself when he embarks his innocent wife into hell, cast out from the church, her family, the town. Is he telling the truth when he believes he can make love to his wife via another man's pleasure. Does he sincerely realize that Bess is mentally incapable of handling this request? Did he realize where she was going, what might happen to her? We don't get those answers.

During chronological sequence breaks, you will hear the soundtrack - songs from the 70's, Jethro Tull's Cross Eyed Mary, Procol Harum's Whiter Shade of Pale, Elton John Your Song, Yellow Brick Road. The music is set to picturesque scenes.

Same as von Trier's Dancer in the Dark, the camera angle can have that dizzying effect especially when it pans the length of a room. You'll adjust as this intriguing conflicting plot develops. Again, the movie is long, two hours. There is graphic sex and nudity, both male and female. It isn't advisable for younger audiences. If you have seen "Dancer in the Dark" you will again be mesmerized by this complex emotional and moving film. ...MzRizz.

What a powerful cinematic experience! BREAKING THE WAVES, directed by the always-controversial Lars von Trier, explores the concepts of love and faith with more poignancy and more intensity than any other film that I can think of.

The movie opens with Bess (Emily Watson) trying to justify to the elders of her church why she should be allowed to marry Jan, a comparatively worldly outsider. Bess is from a very small and insulated Scottish community, and the church she belongs to is VERY conservative and traditional (not to mention patriarchical). It is with some reluctancy that the old bearded men finally approve her marriage.

Although Bess is not quite as rigidly backward as the church elders, she is a deeply faithful woman. In fact, as the film progresses, the purity of Bess's religious beliefs transforms her into a saintly, if not Christ-like character.

Next to Bess's devotion to God (perhaps even surpassing it), is her devotion to Jan. Bess loves her husband completely, unquestioningly, almost madly. In fact, Bess is at first hesitant to tell her husband how deeply she cares for him, for fear that he will be angry with her for the intensity of her feelings. Fairly early on in the film (and I don't think I'm revealing too much by saying so), Jan is severely injured in an oil-rigging accident. This is when Bess's love for him is put to the test in surprising and frankly disturbing ways.

As with any Lars von Trier film, BREAKING THE WAVES is not for the faint of heart. The story is difficult, and there is a lot of frank sexuality. I think any thoughtful viewer, though, will recognize that this film is far from an exploitive shock-piece. After viewing it for the first time the other night, I found myself (and I'm not religious, by the way) contemplating some profoundly spiritual questions. What does it mean to love unconditionally? Do any of us really have pure faith, or are we all too jaded? Why was it necessary for Christ to sacrifice himself to save us? Is this morbid, or is it the ultimate demonstration of love?

The film is generally heavy, but there are also several light moments. One of the most delightful aspects of the film is Emily Watson's performance. While the acting was excellent across the board, I couldn't take my eyes off of her face. I was reminded of Giulietta Masina in LA STRADA. Both actresses are extraordinarily expressive and have a sort of wide-eyed naivety that breaks your heart. Actually, I believe the similarities between the two roles extend beyond the actresses' facial expressions, but I'll leave that for you to contemplate. First, you've got to watch this movie. I highly recommend that you do so.

A fascinating but not entirely successful fantasia that owes just about all of its power to Emily Watson, making a stunning film debut. Watson is the mentally unstable Bess, who talks to God (God seems to talk back in her voice). Bess, a virgin, marries the burly but sensitive oil-rig worker Jan (Stellan Skarsgard). Once she tastes the joys of sex, Bess becomes delirious with love for Jan. But soon he must return to the oil rig, where he has an accident that paralyzes him. The erratic and heavily medicated Jan takes it into his head to ask Bess a favor: she must sleep with other men, and tell him about the encounters, to keep him alive. Both Jan and God seem to want Bess to go through with it.

It's a mistake to take this sort of fable literally, but director Lars von Trier makes everything seem realistic with artsy touches like handheld camerawork, jump cuts, and saturated photography (by Robby Muller). He also, for whatever reason, divides the movie into chapters, and the chapter headings are surreal landscapes with sometimes grating '70s rock songs played over them. You nod and understand all the points von Trier is making, but everything is so symbolic and predetermined that it seldom truly reaches you. The film is haunting but mechanistic and, in its last third, borderline ludicrous -- the meaningful masochism gets to be more than a little much. Yet Emily Watson, who's in almost every frame, very nearly puts the entire gigantic daft movie across all by herself. Her elastic face is a playhouse for violently conflicting emotions, and she's never less than touching. With anyone else in the role (like Helena Bonham-Carter, who was going to do it but dropped out), the movie would probably collapse.

Note: Nothing on the featured cover artwork or in Amazon.com's description indicates whether this DVD is letterboxed. I'd have a look at the back cover or rent it first to make sure, as this is a widescreen, 2.35 movie that needs to be seen letterboxed, though since there is an existing widescreen VHS edition, I see no reason why Artisan wouldn't have letterboxed the DVD.