Rating: 
Summary: A stupid movie
Review: This is a ridiculous movie. Unless Bess's IQ is less than 50, otherwise in the real world who will follow the evil and dying husband to do such stupid thing. There is nothing in the movie worth to watch.Besides 'STUPID', I couldn't findmore appropriate word to describe it. STUPID!!!!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Listen to those bells!
Review: Breaking the Waves is a true diamond of a film. Lars Von Trier, through the magic of his hyper-realistic style, coupled with the breathtaking performance of one Emily Watson, has created something that stands to last the test of time. Breaking the Waves examines that most seemingly simple and yet, so elusive of topics, love. And that of her sister, faith. The story centers around a fragile, elf-like child, Bess MacNeil. She lives in a village of dour Calvinists in the Scottish highlands. Bess is a simpleton. A true idiot in the divine Dostoyevskian sense. Wisdom lurks beneath her childish demeanor. Her bleak life is one of obedience. To her severe family who barely tolerate her and to an even grimmer 'church,' which demands pious display in place of an open heart. Bess does her duty to both, yet with a struggle that is profoundly human. Her monologues with her Maker are some of the best parts of the whole film. She wants to follow her Father's command to love and yet is imprisoned by her stern upbringing, which demands she be a 'guudd gurl.' As one reviewer said, in lesser hands these moments of spiritual intimacy could have been quite comic, but Watson grips us firm with the sheer intensity of her performance. You feel like you are on the other side of the confessional booth as her fight pours out of her. Her grim life of rules and religion is shattered forever by the arrival of her prince, Jan, a Norwegian oil-worker from the offshore rigs. The film starts off with their wedding. Self-righteous presbyters pridefully swill down their lemonades while the 'outsider' introduces Bess to another side of life. To one of happiness and pleasure. Forbidden fruit for her village. For awhile, Bess achieves a wholeness that those around her cannot understand. She experiences a happiness that she has never known before. Then tragedy stikes. Her love is stricken down and seemingly paralyzed for life in an accident. Unable to give her physical pleasure anymore, he asks Bess to sleep with other men and then to recant the details for him. While on the surface, it would appear that Jan is just satisfying his own selfish fantasies, Bess seems to know that 'this mission' will reap its own reward. And it does. At the highest cost. Too high? Maybe not. Bess reminds us with her sacred wisdom that the highest love demands the highest sacrifice. Von Trier's film is great on three levels. First, as a love story, Breaking shows how sacrifices made for love are never in vain. Secondly, the film is a subtle and yet scathing polemic about those who mouth the words of God, but whose hearts are hard and cold. Thirdly, the sterling performances all around combined with Trier's gritty and jerky home camera style make you feel like your watching somebody's diary on film. Some may loathe the unprofessional lack of Hollywood polish, but the film's raw style adds to its credibility. Last but not least, the unique chapter headings help put the whole story into context. They frame it and give it direction. And the music! Bring on that Elton John and Procul Harum! But above all else, watch it for Bess Mac Neil, that truly singular creature of film history. Thus, go and buy this film asap and read here no more, for as Bess would say, 'How can you wuurshup a wurrrd????'
Rating:
Summary: Brilliance....
Review: Lars Von Trier's instant classic is now available on DVD! And I got it for 10 bucks. (Ain't life grand?) Anyway, the film boasts an amazing lead, Emily Watson, who to this day has yet to come close to the intensity of this role. Stellan Skarsgard, the film's male lead, gives a fine performance. The rest of the cast as well, deserves Oscar nods. Every single one of them. The handheld camera work by Director Lars Von Trier brings a gritty, documentary style feel to the intense dramatic story line and performances. The soundtrack is loaded with 60's classics set against beautifully photographed (although enhanced) camera shots placed throughout the film in chapters, intermission-style. This is a must-have for anyone in the galaxy.
Rating:
Summary: 1st stop to your introduction to 'Dogma'-style cinema
Review: Lars von Trier is one of the founders of the Dogma movement and is the foremost practitioner of its style. "Breaking the Waves" is his masterpeice. Seven years after its release, 'Waves' images continue to stick vividly in my mind. I'm sure that's true for many other viewers as well. The bleak northern reaches of coastal Scotland are a perfect match for the 'single camera, no set, no artificiality' style of von Trier and the Dogma mandate... You can also check out two other good Dogma offerings in 'Mifune' and 'Italian for Beginners.' Both worth your while. von Trier's follow-up to 'Breaking the Waves' - 'Dancer in the Dark' - is definitely a more acquired taste. Makes 'Breaking the Waves' look like 'Caddyshack.'
Rating: 
Summary: Keeping the "Christ" in "Christianity"
Review: I thought this was a very interesting film and had no problem sitting through its ~2 and 1/2 hours. Others have written they thought it was "slow" and even "grotesque", but it really made me think in a way that the quicker-paced and glossier Hollywood fare these "reviewers" seem to like never would have. We all have the capacity to be too judgmental and this film reminded me of the need to slow down and be a little more generous of my fellow man. The religion practiced by some of the characters seemed devoid of mercy and forgiveness, which made it into something not very divine and doomed to probably never bring anyone any redemption or grace. I'm not a religious person and part of the reason is I can't see myself throwing in my lot with the "elders" or people like them, who seem to have commandeered something intended to bring us together through understanding and turned it into something that shackles through shame and fear. Obviously, Bess had a lot of problems and she needed the understanding of her community, not their grim sanctimony--and really, they needed her, too. Bess had at least two things none of them had: Her capacity for all-conquering hope and belief and her ability to experience overwhelming love for other human beings. It turned out to be what destroyed her, but if those around her had understood her they could have protected her and found a way to enrich their bleak society with her talents. All communities need hope and love and that community had it in shorter supply than most. They really lost something by not being equipped to keep her around. Anyway, this film wouldn't offend me if I were a practicing Christian, and didn't offend me as a lapsed one. It was very respectful of faith, and so, very respecful of its main character (who was faith incarnate). I think it would make many practicing Christians think about just what it is they are practicing and whether or not it seems to be what Christ intended. I know that it made at least one lapsed Christian wonder if maybe he was too hasty and is missing out on something, after all.
Rating: 
Summary: Extremely slow-moving; distracting "chapter" stops
Review: This review is somewhat biased, because I generally prefer films that move faster and take less time to establish the characters than this one (call me brainwashed by modern Hollywood cinema, but this is how I feel). I appreciate Lars von Trier's effort to establish Bess (Emily Watson) and Jan (Stellan Skarsgaard) as unique characters, but the film ultimately fails because of its slow pace. Unlike other films that have desperate characters (the mindless "Rules of Attraction" comes to mind), I feel what Bess does is justified, given her husband's inexplicable request and the extremely conservative nature of her church. These characters (and the performances) breed empathy and compassion; von Trier's skill and the actors' talent are much evident. However, I honestly could not sit through the entire film without hitting my DVD player's Fast Forward button several times, and finally stopping the movie early because I could take the sluggish pace no longer. Forty percent of the movie could be cut, and the story would suffer none. My other gripe about this film is the pointless and unnerving "chapter" stops which occur every fifteen minutes throughout the movie. While the film itself plays with mostly no background music, the eight or so chapter marks last way too long. Furthermore, loud rock music plays during these segments, which breaks the mood of the film, making the otherwise quiet film very noisy. These chapter segments inappropriately disrupt the flow of the film, and had me scrambling for my remote control several times to turn down the volume. If the film could be re-edited without the protracted and inappropriate "chapter" segments (or even if the disturbing, loud rock music could be removed), then it might be tolerable.
Rating:
Summary: You can't say this isn't brilliant
Review: Where do I even start with this insane movie that I can't even believe got released? One thing I'd like to stress first is just what a great parallel to "Dancer in the Dark" it is. The two characters Bess and Selma are extremely different from one another yet they both share a common bond of simply being incredibly "good". "Breaking the Waves" is primarily about sex and God, whereas in "Dancer in the Dark" God never gets mentioned and there's not even sexual tension, the focus being on motherhood and a beautiful kind of introspection. Bess talks to God on a regular basis, Selma has no one to talk to. But damned if they're not exactly like each other! Anyway, if you pay attention while watching this movie you'll notice just how much care and precision went into every scene, every single camera shot. It's almost creepy because you really do feel like Von Trier is trying to work his way into your brain, in a way that's very subtle but all the more disturbing for that reason. I think the people who give negative reviews to this movie do so because they don't understand that it's just a really simple story whose main focus is on how f---ed up the world is and how good people - the best among us - tend to be misunderstood and cast aside. I mean, do you really think someone's going to spend five years making a movie that makes fun of its protagonist? Just watch it again and don't assume you know what the director is doing. It's a lot easier to say "Oh, that was a stupid movie because it's sentimental" than to empathize with characters who endure things that most people would let break them.
Rating:
Summary: A matter of interpretation
Review: How you react to Lars von Trier's epic love story will depend largely on your response to Bess (Emily Watson). If you attribute her strikingly self-destructive personal faith to the unfortunate combination of mental imbalance, a brutal Calvinist upbringing, and a life of limited scope, then you're likely to feel enough sympathy for her to turn this story into a heartbreaking masterpiece on the redemptive power of love. But if, on the other hand, you attribute her behaviour to an irritatingly irrational religious enthusiasm bordering on willful stupidity, then you're likely to find her cloying naiveté - and the rest of this film - almost entirely unwatchable. On the first viewing, I was in the second camp and within forty minutes I was throwing the remote at the screen. Coming back to it a day later, and paying more attention, I found Bess far more sympathetic and began to appreciate this film for its craft as much as for its themes. Lars von Trier's "dogmatic" approach doesn't always play, but here it pays off in spades: hand-held cameras and available light add realism to a story and characters which might otherwise seem woefully contrived. Moreover, the documentary style contrasts wonderfully with the evocative beauty and music of the "chapter title" inserts and the glorious, climactic epiphany. For my money, von Trier's "Dancer In The Dark" is a more successful effort, but this one still packs a mighty emotional punch.
Rating:
Summary: Horrifically boring
Review: Ok, this movie ranks in #1 for I don't give a ... if any of the characters die. STUPID STUPID STUPID!!! The woman in this movie was directed to play perhaps the most irritatingly vulnerable and naive dolt in the history of cinema. If you are a woman and sick of being turned into a cartoon by a director's fantasies of his ideal submissive woman, DON'T WATCH IT! Most importantly, it was a BAD unadulterated MONUMENTALLY SENTIMENTAL DRAMA. IT wasn't funny but also absolutely NOTHING was poignant about it. A true waste of time that took a few installments to get through.
Rating:
Summary: Very much ado about nothing
Review: This movie impressed me in such a negative way I feel that
I must write a review. I have certainly noticed that about 7/8 out
of 10 reviews I've seen are quite positive. Movies are very powerful
and evocative, and what rankles me no end is that crass movies like
this play on cheap emotions and sympathies about how we are all
victims, how life is so unfair, and thus we must feel compassion for
the less fortunate who martyr themselves for (among other things) "love,"
no matter how outrageous their actions are. There was a movie that came out some years ago about a millionaire
who offers a desperate couple a million dollars if he can have an affair
with the wife. The promoters of the movie were able to create a small
stir, really a bunch of gossip - should they or shouldn't they accept
the offer? Fortunately I never saw the movie because the idea struck me
as nonsense, the bait of money that "everyone" supposedly wants, etc.
And just like the other movie mentioned above, I see that "Breaking the
Waves" has also caused a stir among professional and non-professional
reviewers. Is the love of the lead character, Bess, so pure that she
becomes a Mary Magdalene-like prostitute to satisfy the "inner needs" of
her paralyzed husband, and thus, as she believes, keeps him alive? Or is
she so innocent because she is somewhat feeble-minded, and thus the
"victim" of the hypocritical church elders (incl. her grandfather), who predictably excommunicate her, which results in her being cast out by
her own family, and hastens her demise. The handling of these issues in "Breaking the Waves" is trite,
unbelievable, and as I wrote above, the movie very disingenuously and with
amazingly exaggerated self-importance plays on human sympathies about
so-called "love." One of the biggest problems with the movie that contributes
to its negative effect is that almost the entire footage is done with close-ups.
The constant close-ups are annoying on TV; on the big scene I can only imagine
what the effect would have been! The constant close-ups force a reaction, scene
after scene, for almost the entire 2 1/2 hours. The first hour of the movie, like many European movies, really drags for
a viewer accustomed to American movies. While sometimes the slower pace creates
a richness of plot and character development, here it only underscores the weak
themes and characterizations in the movie and foreshadows later events that are
easily predicted. The final travesty is the quick wrap-up at the end, when
Bess supposedly "martyrs" herself (it is so contrived I was aghast when I saw
the scene) and then with no explanation at all her husband is suddenly healed,
and then we are expected to believe that she goes to heaven and "manifests"
church bells above the oil rig where he works! A real tragedy of "Breaking the Waves" is that some very fine performances
are almost totally wasted. The actors who play Bess's sister-in-law and the
young, concerned doctor are believable and touching, and show the kind of
potential the movie might have realized had it not been so contrived, excessive,
and poorly written for the lead character, who herself gives a performance
that is also excessive and self-indulgent.
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