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Critics Consensus: Breaking the Waves offers a remarkable testament to writer-director Lars von Trier's insight and filmmaking skill -- and announces Emily Watson as a startling talent.
Critic Consensus: Breaking the Waves offers a remarkable testament to writer-director Lars von Trier's insight and filmmaking skill -- and announces Emily Watson as a startling talent.
All Critics (58) | Top Critics (12) | Fresh (49) | Rotten (9) | DVD (3)
There are few movies around that take such huge risks: this is high-wire filmmaking, without a net of irony.
The performance from newcomer Emily Watson is the centerpiece of this spiritual journey.
It's a remarkable achievement for all concerned, with Katrin Cartlidge, as Bess's widowed sister-in-law, sharing the acting laurels with the radiant Emily Watson, and writer/director Lars von Trier building the emotional and dramatic intensity ...
Watson's Bess is an unforgettable character -- simple, profound, heartbreaking, tragic and yet triumphant.
Gloomy '90s drama has cursing, nudity, mature themes.
Both a ferocious love story and a tale of the triumph of vital individual faith over ossified and corrupt organized religion.
Issues of faith, devotion, sexuality and divine intervention are at the center of this daring and provocative piece that placed writer-director Lars von Trier on the international map.
It's a testament to Emily Watson's astounding performance as Bess that she comes across as more than a von Trier construct; she's a woman of boundless passion, who follows her faith wherever it takes her.
Von Trier may put his characters and the viewer through the ringer, yet his empathy toward both is unmistakable.
Here is a film that makes you feel like you've read the novel, seen the movie, and lived the life of a protagonist more empathetic than any other. You just might need a stiff drink afterward.
A powerful tear-jerker romantic drama that intriguingly also brings religion into the mix.
The synopsis doesn't begin to do justice to the psychological and emotional complexities of the tale.
This was definitely a mesmerizing experience. The film is about so many things but what stood out most to me was the religious subject matter. There's definitely a lot that can be said, little that I agree with, and a lot that could make you feel just depressed/disgusted about the whole thing. The film just punches you in the gut. In conclusion... definitely worth watching.
Super Reviewer
Emily Watson is a wonderful actress, her performance is the only thing this ugly thing has going for it. Mean spirited ultimately pointless film. The ending has to be one of the dumbest "ah come on!" moments ever put on film.
An honest, super depressing look at a mentally unstable woman (Emily Watson) and her marriage to an oil rig worker (Stellan Skarsgard), and how they deal with their relationship after he is left paralyzed due to a work accident, and his only demand of her is that she find another lover that will somehow aid his healing. While it is a soul-crushing throughout its duration, and it occasionally threatens to overstep its bounds and become offensive, one can not help but be in awe of the brutal honesty and graphic depiction of a marriage on the rocks Lars von Trier brings to the screen. Not only is it a romantic-drama, it also has a philosophical spin on the nature of religion and how the negative, secluded sections of the religious folk can be some of the worst human beings possible. It is anti-religious, but it is never an illustration of the norm of religious people. It is moreso a frank, disturbing look of a woman who needs help but the very people she turns to forsake her for their own selfish desires. Emily Watson's unforgettable, powerful performance drives this moving all the way to it's discouraging conclusion. It may not be easy to get through given its length and subject, but the way von Trier shoots this thing (with a handheld camera to capture a grainy feel), as well as his handle on the material is something to be in awe of.
A disturbing yet beautiful film. Von Trier's masterpiece and the best use of a Rod Stewart song in a movie.
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