Breaking the Waves

1996 • 159 minutes

About this movie

Drama set in a repressed, deeply religious community in the north of Scotland, where a naive young woman named Bess McNeill meets and falls in love with Danish oil-rig worker Jan. Bess and Jan are deeply in love, but when Jan returns to his rig, Bess prays to God that he returns for good. Jan does return, his neck broken in an accident aboard the rig. Because of his condition, Jan and Bess are now unable to enjoy a sexual relationship and Jan urges Bess to take another lover and tell him the details. As Bess becomes more and more deviant in her sexual behaviour, the more she comes to believe that her actions are guided by God and are helping Jan recover.

Ratings and reviews

Lars Von Trier is one of the greatest filmmakers alive. If you want sanitized mindless drivel, Lars is not your man. If you want beautifully filmed, sometimes very uncomfortable narrative journeys. Stunningly talented, fully committed actors, then you just hit paydirt. Some don't "get it"...and that's okay. Like all fine art, Trier's work needs to be savored, revisited and not hurried. His work is an honest, brutal look at the human condition. If it makes you uncomfortable, it should!

A masterpiece, hard to watch; painful, peverse, awful, joyful and left me in tears! I cannot recommend this to you enough. Be warned it is not for everyone.

Emily Watson is a staggeringly talented actress. A joy to watch. She carries this film so well.