Powerful Adult Drama (Breaking The Waves (DVD))

Member Name: flowermouth

Product:	Breaking The Waves (DVD)
Date:	28/11/00 (43 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Moving and Powerful

Disadvantages: Too dark for some tastes

Lars Von Trier’s ‘Breaking the Waves’ is a powerful and emotive story of obsessive love. Set in the Scottish Islands we follow the love life of one of their local girls marrying out of the village to a worldly stranger, Jan, that bewitches the young girl. When an accident renders Jan paralysed he insists that his new wife takes lovers outside of wedlock to keep their own relationship rich with love, life and sex.

‘Breaking the Waves’ is filmed with realistic camera techniques that many viewers will find reminiscent of documentary film-making. Von Trier litters the film with his brand of realism with sporadic jump-cuts that can, on occasion, make the viewer feel quite uncomfortable. The realist approach is aided by the type of authentic performances that would make Stanislavski himself proud. Briton, Emily Watson portrays the lead female role with awe, guts and restrained emotion.

The film is broken into several chapters that are even given chapter names and numbers. To accompany these, the chapter titles are given highly stylised inter-cards with exotic lighting and colour and a soft focus that reflect how life exists in the Hollywood film universe. These are greatly polarised by Lars Von Trier’s depiction of life in the ‘Breaking the Waves’ universe. One could argue that that inter-cards represent how life should be, but the main action is representing how life is. A little harsh you may think, but ‘Breaking the Waves’ is not designed to simply entertain like a Hollywood romance or thriller. Von Trier has been bold in making a film that is uncomfortable at times to view due to the heavy nature of the drama, aided by the realist cinematic techniques.

A difficult and highly adult drama not for the faint hearted. ‘Breaking the Waves’ available to rent and buy now.

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