Breaking the Waves

4.00
    Breaking the Waves
    1996

    Synopsis

    In a small and conservative Scottish village, a woman's paralytic husband convinces her to have extramarital intercourse so she can tell him about it and give him a reason for living.

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    Cast

    • Emily WatsonBess McNeill
    • Stellan SkarsgårdJan Nyman
    • Katrin CartlidgeDodo McNeill
    • Jean-Marc BarrTerry
    • Adrian RawlinsDr. Richardson
    • Jonathan HackettPriest
    • Sandra VoeMother
    • Udo KierSadistic Sailor
    • Mikkel GaupPits
    • Roef RagasPim

    Recommendations

    • 100

      Entertainment Weekly

      True art is a journey to somewhere you've never been, and there has never been a movie quite like Breaking the Waves.
    • 100

      San Francisco Chronicle

      One of the most haunting and vital movies of the year.
    • 90

      Rolling Stone

      "Waves" is a spellbinder.
    • 90

      Newsweek

      There are few movies around that take such huge risks: this is high-wire filmmaking, without a net of irony.
    • 90

      The New York Times

      A narrative path leading from the sincere to the ludicrous, and culminating in a final image of flabbergasting transcendance, gives Breaking the Waves its surprising power.
    • 90

      The A.V. Club

      What Von Trier arrives at is a complex, contemporary, and deeply moving exploration of faith.
    • 89

      Austin Chronicle

      With this artlessly profound and affecting story of love, von Trier emerges as one of those blessed filmmakers who've managed to blend their early stylistic flamboyance with enough human empathy to make their work both visually and emotionally compelling.
    • 80

      Time

      In its pagan fervor, this is an almost religious experience.

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