Dogville

4.67
    Dogville
    2003

    Synopsis

    A mysterious woman named Grace hides in a small mountain town from criminals who pursue her. The town is two-faced and offers to harbor Grace as long as she can make it worth their effort, so Grace works hard under the employ of various townspeople to win their favor. Tensions flare, however, and Grace's status as a helpless outsider provokes vicious contempt and abuse from the citizens of Dogville.

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    Cast

    • Nicole KidmanGrace Margaret Mulligan
    • Harriet AnderssonGloria
    • Lauren BacallMa Ginger
    • Jean-Marc BarrThe Man with the Big Hat
    • Paul BettanyTom Edison
    • Blair BrownMrs. Henson
    • James CaanThe Big Man
    • Patricia ClarksonVera
    • Jeremy DaviesBill Henson
    • Ben GazzaraJack McKay

    Recommendations

    • 100

      Empire

      Argue that von Trier's latest is theatre and not cinema. But at least acknowledge that Dogville, in a didactic and politicised stage tradition, is a great play that shows a deep understanding of human beings as they really are.
    • 100

      Premiere

      It really is a masterpiece--von Trier's first, as it happens.
    • 100

      Village Voice

      For passion, originality, and sustained chutzpah, this austere allegory of failed Christian charity and Old Testament payback is von Trier's strongest movie--a masterpiece, in fact.
    • 88

      Rolling Stone

      Kidman gives the most emotionally bruising performance of her career in Dogville, a movie that never met a cliche it didn't stomp on.
    • 80

      The A.V. Club

      The incendiary Dogville confirms the director's sadistic knack for locating his characters' (and his audience's) soft spots and prodding them for a singular emotional experience.
    • 80

      L.A. Weekly

      A postmodern morality play stripped nearly bare by its precocious creator, until only its boldness, cutting insight, intermittent hilarity and bracing violence remain.
    • 50

      New York Magazine (Vulture)

      The film centers almost entirely on the faces of the townspeople, which Von Trier frames vividly. There’s nothing static about his technique, but everything else about the movie is dreary and closed off.
    • 40

      Variety

      An artistically experimental, ideologically apocalyptic blast at American values that is as obvious in intent as it is murky in aesthetic achievement.

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