Breaking the Waves review

 Number 398 on the top 1000 films of all time is Lars Von Trier's 1996 psychological romantic melodrama 'Breaking the Waves.'

Bess Mcneil (Emily Watson) is a Scottish, simple-minded, deeply religious woman living in a small Scottish village. She marries Danish oil worker Jan Nyman (Stellan Skarsgard) - a marriage which is strongly disapproved of by her community and church. When Nyman becomes paralysed after an accident, he requests Bess to continue living her life including having sexual relationships with other men. Bess does so believing that her sexual infidelity is helping Nyman recover.

Would you believe me if I said that this was Emily Watson's debut film role? A film role that led her to receiving a Best Actress Oscar nod? It's the truth. She was impressive as Bess - the naive, innocent woman with undiagnosed mental issues. In her naivety, she continues to sexually debase herself as she erroneously thinks this helping her husband to feel better. 

At first glance you might argue the character isn't very realistic - and I'm sure there are some who would read the character with a feminist lens - but she is living in a backwater Scottish village deeply affected by the recent death of her brother with an oppressive mother who provides little emotional validation. Her church is similarly oppressive, not even allowing women to speak in their services. No doubt this would lead to some mental health problems. Perhaps if she was in the city she could get the hope she needs I think it makes sense that Bess would imprint herself onto her husband - the only person who's ever given her any validation.

Watson truly earned her Oscar nomination, as she conveyed the devastation of the character. Bess Mcneil is a character to be truly pitied and it is all too easy to feel sorry for her especially as her misguided sexual escapades lead to her excommunication and eventual exile of her community. She might have done, subjectively, bad things, but she isn't a bad person. She strongly reminded me of Bjork's similarly tragic character in Von Trier's later film Dancer in the Dark. Considering this was the third in Von Trier's Golden Heart trilogy that makes sense. 

Bess might be a morally good character, but can we say the same thing about Jan? Yes, he has been paralysed in a dreadful work accident, but other characters are quick to point out his own debasement - manipulating his wife into prostituting herself for his own voyeuristic pleasure. Skarsgard was great as the morally duplicitous Jan - does he really have his wife's best interests at hearts or is he just using her?

Something else to consider is that this film is a melodrama. It's not supposed to be 100% realistic - spectacle and emotional gravitas are prioritised over an airtight story or believable characters. This magic realism continued all the way to the film's conclusion, which, for me, pushed my suspension of disbelief a little too far. But I'll leave you to make up your own mind. 

But, for certain, it was an emotional film. It was deeply sad seeing the tragedies growing ever greater and greater. It was awful seeing the physical, mental and sexual violence continuously inflicted on Bess - a character who deserved a lot more than she ever received out of life.

This was Von Trier's first film after having founded the avant-garde Dogme - 95 cinema movement with fellow Danish film maker Thomas Vinterberg. Granted 'Breaking the Waves' doesn't adhere that closely to its principles, but the use of handheld camera and low lighting created a claustrophobic and uncomfortably intimate atmosphere. You learn more than you would like about these characters - not that you have any choice in the matter. There's no looking away, which was very much the point of the film.

Sure, you can argue that Breaking the Waves is over-the-top, unbelievable with unrealistic characters, but I think that was supposed to be the point of the film. It's melodrama - not always the most believable, but definitely entertaining if not downright tragic. And Emily Watson was terrific in her debut role.