Dogville (2003)
Average Rating: 6.9/10
Reviews Counted: 154
Fresh: 108 | Rotten: 46
A challenging piece of experimental filmmaking.
Average Rating: 6.9/10
Critic Reviews: 42
Fresh: 29 | Rotten: 13
A challenging piece of experimental filmmaking.
liked it
Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 53,021
My Rating
Movie Info
Set in a small fictional town in the U.S. during the 1930s, Lars von Trier's Dogville was filmed in a studio with a minimal set and features narration by John Hurt. On the run from a group of gangsters, Grace (Nicole Kidman) arrives in the small mining town of Dogville. Town philosopher Tom Edison (Paul Bettany) takes her in and strikes a deal with her: She'll work for the townsfolk in exchange for a safe place to hide; after two weeks the people will vote for her to either stay or go. Grace
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Cast
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Nicole Kidman
Grace -
John Hurt
Narrator -
Paul Bettany
Tom Edison -
Philip Baker Hall
Tom Edison Sr. -
James Caan
The Big Man -
Stellan Skarsgård
Chuck -
Jeremy Davies
Bill Henson -
Chloë Sevigny
Liz Henson -
Patricia Clarkson
Vera -
Ben Gazzara
Jack McKay -
Blair Brown
Mrs. Henson -
Lauren Bacall
Ma Ginger -
Zeljko Ivanek
Ben -
Harriet Andersson
Gloria -
Udo Kier
The Man in the Coat -
Cleo King
Olivia -
Miles Purinton
Jason -
Bill Raymond
Mr. Henson -
Siobhan Fallon-Hogan
Martha -
Shauna Shim
June -
Jean-Marc Barr
The Man With the Big Ha... -
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Jimmy Uller
Chuck -
Cynthia Almeida
body double -
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Max Angervall
body double -
Robert Arlinder
body double -
Evelina Brinkemo
Athena -
Anna Brobeck
Olympia -
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Eva Ermenz
body double -
Elisabeth Falk
body double -
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Atle Fägersten
body double -
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Gunnar Johansson
body double -
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Sonny Johnson
body double -
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Susan Ketola
body double -
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Sara Klingvall
body double -
Patricia Page Leandersson
body double -
Tilde Lindgren
Pandora -
Cecilia Lindquist
body double -
??ke Ljung
body double -
Evelina Lundqvist
Diana -
Alexandra Mehrstam
body double -
Sune Myrfalk
body double -
Helga Olofsson
Dahlia -
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Fafnnette Zetterström
body double -
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All Critics (168) | Top Critics (45) | Fresh (113) | Rotten (48) | DVD (21)
There's nothing static about [Von Trier's] technique, but everything else about the movie is dreary and closed off.
Top CriticWhat Lars von Trier has achieved is avant-gardism for idiots.
Fascinating for a while but, in the end, just sleep-inducing.
It's a tough sit through tough questions.
Singular and unforgettable -- the work of a brilliant crackpot.
You just have to see it to believe it. Frankly, I have never seen anything like it, which is not to say that it's good or bad, but it is different and even original.
These elements come together to form a movie that is clinically ironic but also unique, inspired, and quite sublime.
This minimalist, digital-video-shot film has its own cinematic flash and thunder, and does things only movies can do.
An exceptionally literary film that at the same time employs extremely theatrical set design. Leave it to the mad genius of Denmark to kick cinema's ass once again.
After about an hour, the novelty wears off, and you're aching to see an actual animal and real shrubs. After two hours, you feel disappointed when you realize that this wouldn't even make a good play. After three hours, it's downright infuriating.
There is one vital DVD feature those interested in understanding von Trier's approach won't want to miss.
Manages to strike a poignant chord as a more general denunciation of humanity's latent tendencies for malicious selfishness.
'Rich with meaning or a sublime prank, Dogville gets to you.'
Audience Reviews for Dogville
Super Reviewer
Dogville's depiction of detatchment, the worthlessness of the human promise, mistrust and animalistic selfishness is incredibly moving. Nicole Kidman gives a breathtaking performance as a troubled, overly sympathetic daughter of a gangster, who ends up in the hands of a seemingly morally functioning town, where eventually she gets horribly abused and mistreated by the residents. The visually alienating design featuring no environment, or in fact sets, detatches you from the story in a way which sometimes can be quite irritating. I think the film may have worked better if it was filmed traditionally with all these traits. Lars Von Trier's choice to film it this way may have been self aware and intentional, but I didn't really think it's deliberate emptiness was working. Despite that, there is so much else to admire and love about Dogville. The script is brilliantly written, the old fashioned plot is unpredictable, and it's bizzare surrealism and unrestricted brutality is shockingly awe inspiring. As a piece of experimental film making, Lars Von Trier has crafted a masterpiece. It's got a painfully silent and relatively relaxed tone to it, which uses little to no sound effects or score whatsoever. Yet remarkably it remains dramatically engaging and involving the whole way through. All the way up to the incredibly satisfying finale. Despite all that, I don't think it's Lars' best film, but in comparison to a lot of today's art house and Hollywood features it's orientation is to be massive in terms of ambition and originality. It most certainly suceeds in that, and that is just one of the many great achievements of this marvellous independently spirited film.
Super Reviewer
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- Grace: I want to make this world a little better.
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- Tom Edison: Maybe people just regard things a criminal because they envy their success.
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- Tom Edison: It's quite a blow to me to see all my friends act this way--so uncivilized.
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- Liz Henson: Honestly, Tom, you've done it again. Made us come here to listen to a lot of nonsense. Who do you think you are? Some kind of philosopher?
- Tom Edison: Observant, that's what I am.
- Ma Ginger: Lazy, I would say.
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- Narrator: Grace paused. And while she did, the clouds scattered and let the moonlight through and Dogville underwent another of those little changes of light. It was if the light, previously so merciful and faint, finally refused to cover up for the town any longer.
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- Grace: You can't stand that I remind you of what it was you came here to find.
Discussion Forum
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