Rating: 
Summary: What's more to say..?
Review: The amazing performance of Emily Watson is enough. The film, itself, is mesmerizing, a dreamlike quality, suggesting that Bess (Watson) is not to stable to begin with...the "baby" of the village that has finally resigned herself to marry. Though Watson is brilliant (and garnered all the reviews) Stellan Skaarsgard in his somewhat supporting role matches her every step of the way. Her waif-like innocence belies the eagerness to which she gives herself so entirely without resrevation on her wedding night. She's so naive as to believe her husband's drug-induced suggestions to find omeone else for sex (after his paralyzing accident). Anyway, I've read most ofthe reviews, here, and so have you. What intrigues me is the completeness of Watson's performance. With the exception of Geraldine Page in "Summer and Smoke" (1961), I cannot think of a finer female performance captured on film, for future generations to look at and say "Hey! This is what it's all about".
Rating:
Summary: Watch this movie if you have ever been in love
Review: All I can say about this movie is that is one of the most affecting, passionate and deeply felt movies I have ever seen. Emily Watson and Stellan Skarsgard are amazing as the leads. They are such a contrast as a couple, Skarsgard being so tall and protective looking and Watson being so small and fragile. The look of the movie is also worth noting. The look is so ultra-real that is difficult to tell if it is a movie or real life. Other reviews I have read of this movie have called it depressing and harrowing. I would call it something else-delicately treated and triumphant. Looking deeper into Lars Von Trier's movies, like this one and Kingdom, or "Riget" in Danish you can see the gentleness Von Trier uses in directing his movies. It is easy to dismiss this movie as depressing and harrowing. It is, but upon closer inspection it is just a very deep exploration of love. It took me a long time before I could bring myself to watch this movie. I knew I needed some preparation for it, so I watched Kingdom and another Danish movie, Thomas Vinterberg's Celebration, as preparation. Without some preparation, watching this movie is like being thrown into deep water without know how to swim. I would recommend this movie to anyone who has ever been intensely in love, and has seen at least two recent Dogma 95 movies and likes dark, complex movies that stay in your mind. Chewing gum for the brain this movie is not.
Rating: 
Summary: Very difficult to watch
Review: Emily Watson's performance is extraordinary, and Stellan Skargard is very good, but this is without a doubt the most degrading, depressing and tragic movie I have seen in a long, long time. I had to force myself to watch it, hoping that somehow something redeeming would transpire. Two and one half hours later I can say that it did not. I wish I could say that this was a great work of art, but it is not. It is a sad, very sad commentary on the madness of human beings, a twentieth century "tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing." Particularly depressing were the church fathers in their beards and their stupidity. And be forewarned, the sexuality is degrading, and the very essence of human love is willfully and repeatedly perverted. In making this movie, Director Lars von Trier no doubt sought a kinship with the tragedies of Shakespeare and the Greeks in which the fates destroy the protagonist because of a so-called "fatal flaw," a flaw the protagonist cannot help. Bess's fatal flaw was her childlike nature twisted by circumstance. In the great tragedies the essential purpose is to bring the audience, through its involvement and its identification with the protagonist, to a catharsis, a catharsis that cleanses the emotions and allows us to see the world as it really is, free of self-delusion. But Von Trier's bizarre and pathetic ending with those ridiculous bells in the sky was closer to bathos than anything else, and steered us not toward catharsis but into a kind of emotional limbo where not even emptiness is felt.
Rating:
Summary: A legitimate masterpiece
Review: Lars Von Trier, the Danish director, had previously best been known internationally for his surreal but affecting television series, The Kingdom, which was perhaps too odd for general consumption, but was nevertheless good enough to recieve a theatrical release around the world. Next, he made Breaking the Waves, which took his art to a new level. Probably still his most accessible work, the movie is the first of a trilogy he has labeled 'The Golden Heart films' (Idioterne and Dancer in the Dark are the other two). It is a film about purity, with Emily Watson's Bess giving everything for love. Her dignity and her sanity are just the first things to go. The subject matter is grim and the film is not for everyone. But Watson's performance especially, is so powerfully overwhelming that it deserves to be seen by anybody who feels they can handle the certainly depressing content. Lars Von Trier's greatest talent is drawing incredible performances from his actors. The level of commitment carries the viewer through the story at a level of intensity generally not seen on the screen. Frankly, the woman was robbed of the Academy Award. This is one of the finest performances you will ever see. Shot largely in close-up with his by now trademark shaky camera work, Lars Trier in Breaking the Waves, has provided us with a unique, disturbing masterpiece - totally unlike anything previously filmed. It is also one of the most truly distressing films ever made. Second only to Dancer in the Dark, the experience will stay with you for a long, long time. However, despite its violent ugliness Breaking the Waves is also a surprisingly beautiful movie, about purity and emotions. If I may paraphrase a recent TV review I saw of it: Von Trier has tapped into something so potent you wonder if it wasn't best left alone. I can understand what they mean - it is shockingly effective, like being hit on the head with a mallet - but it wasn't best left alone. It is a deeply spiritual and, possibly, life-changing movie. It is undoubtedly challenging. And if you have had problems relating to his later films, this is possibly the place to start. It may explain his cinematic vision better than anything else he's done. You will never ever forget it.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointly trite
Review: I came to the film with high expectations, having recently seen Trier's innovative and interesting 'The Idiots', but I was gravely disappointed. Emily Watson does indeed put in a stunning performance, but both her and Jan's characters are pretty bland, and I was never convinced that their relationship was anything other than utterly carnal (hence the endless tedious references to the size of Jan's member) - I thought I was watching a porn movie for the first hour. Jan's behaviour when he is paralysed is, quite frankly, risible. The film is far too long and the camerawork repetitive and boring - the cinematography is, however, a highlight. The plot is slow-moving and doesn;t keep one interested, and the ideas behind the drama are cliched, and not given any meat by profound characterisation. The Christian aspect is really banal (especially the episodes in the church), and the last fifteen minutes are so drearily pitiful I assumed Trier was undermining his own film. I was bored to death for three hours, except for those brief moments where I laughed out loud at the picture's unbelievable bathos. Grotesque.
Rating:
Summary: True to life horror story
Review: To be frank I almost wish I hadn't seen this movie. Thankfully, time has softened the horror that it depicted. Essentially, a man becomes a quadriplegic due to an accident and tells his wife to "find a lover". Being good hearted but extremely foolish/stupid, she starts to have sex with men she despises in order to please her husband. It all goes downhill from there. She gains a reputation as the village whore and at one point is stoned by a group of schoolkids. I think this movie might have been trying to extoll the virtues of "self-sacrifice" -- she sacrified her body for her husband. Late in the movie, a pastor describes her as being "good". I would describe her as being well-intentioned but "stupid". What makes all this so horrific to watch is that it's very believable. It could have happened and probably did. Maybe it was a cautionary tale of what can happen to well intentioned but stupid people ?
Rating:
Summary: HAUNTING, HEART BREAKING, UNFORGETTABLE, MASTERPIECE
Review: Breaking The Waves A powerhouse. Directed with a new , daringly original style. Half of it seems like a documentary while the other half you feel like a voyeuristic masochist. This is definitely not for all- tastes. There is not a word to explain the greatness of Emily Watsons performance as Bess, the plain newlywed of a rig worker. Her loss at BEST ACTRESS to Frances McDormand in FARGO is an ultimate disgrace. (tho, I loved Fargo). Lars Von Trier is a compelling director and scripter. He has made one of the most emotion stirring, heart rending films of all time. I'm not sure if it's a story of love or faith, or madness...or all three. But whatever it is, it's brilliant and breath taking.
Rating:
Summary: A typical Europeen movie
Review: I have seen this movie in the cinema. It's a wonderfull movie with great actors. The movie is separated in parts. But it doesn't "cut" the movie. Now you can see how deep a human being can go, just for love. A must see. A question: this dvd is also region 2, is it subtitled in Dutch?
Rating:
Summary: A brilliant piece of filmmaking
Review: Bes love jan, Jan loves Bess. they get married and live happily after ever... not quite. Breaking the waves is about Bess a young simple minded Scottish woman who cleans the local church. While cleaning them she regularly has conversations with God. Bess meets and falls in love with Jan and outsider who works on an oil rig. Soon Bess and Jan marry to the begrudging wishes of Bess family and the opressive church elders. Then of course complications occur. Jan is called back to sea and is crippled in a rig accident. Bess whose love is unwavering stands by her man despite the fact he may never walk again. While in the hospital Jan asks Bess for a favor to keep hip alive. I would say more but I've said enough abou the plot which is only window dressing for the amazing performances in this film. First and foremost is Emily Wastson whose performance as Bess is one of the best by an actress or actor I have ever seen. Her face is like a blank page which immediately and convincingly contorts to what ever emnotion she is feeling. Even the conversatiuons with God which in the hands of a lesser actor would look foolish comes across believable. Stellan Skarsgard who plays Jan is mainly a supporting character but he is also extremely good as the enigmatic husband of Bess. The rest of the cast is uniformly excellent. Trier's direction is breathtaking. By using motsly handheld cameras and natural lighting he's made a film that gives the film a documentary feel to it. Lars Von Trier has made a brilliant and challenging movie about love, faith and conviction. This is the kind of movie that some people will love and other will abhor. But that's the price sometimes when you create art.
Rating: 
Summary: Breaking the Bladder
Review: First off, this film is about an hour too long. It also could not make up its mind as to whether it wanted to be a long dull romance like "The English Patient," or something softcore they show on Cinemax. I found Watson's character so annoying, I breathed a sigh of relief when she was not onscreen, which was not often. Von Trier's documentary approach is not interesting, just stomach churning...and you thought "The Blair Witch Project" was jumpy?
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