SummarySet in a remote coastal village in northern Scotland, this is the extraordinary tale of a young woman's love and devotion to her husband, recently paralyzed in an oil rig accident.
Directed By:Lars von Trier
Written By:Lars von Trier, Peter Asmussen, David Pirie
Breaking the Waves
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
82
User score
Generally Favorable
7.9
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
83% Positive
24 Reviews
24 Reviews
14% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
3% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
100
Philosophically complex, spiritual but anti-religious, harrowing yet hopeful.
100
Not many movies like this get made, because not many filmmakers are so bold, angry and defiant.
User score
Generally Favorable
82% Positive
70 Ratings
70 Ratings
13% Mixed
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
5% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
Nov 3, 2021
9
First film of the "good heart trilogy" by Von Trier. A great Emily Watson flanked by Stellan Skarsgård in this drama full of sentiment and clichés that never result to be neither disappointing or out of place. A heart-breaking drama that contrasts goodness and wickedness in the contrast between two human beings: a selfish man and a good-heart woman in love with her husband willing to do anything for him, even to die.
Nov 28, 2019
7
at first, the movie is strange, and it stays that way till the end. but as simple as it seems, the mindset behind it and what von trier sees in people, makes you more human and gets you thinking and maybe crying at the same time. prepare for a non-traditional romantic drama to watch.
100
True art is a journey to somewhere you've never been, and there has never been a movie quite like Breaking the Waves.
90
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.
80
A trying, contrary mix of religion and carnality that teeters on the verge of preposterous self-indulgence.
70
You won't come out of it indifferent, and even if it winds up enraging you (I could have done without most of the ending myself), it nonetheless commands attention.
30
For this mortal, the film converts piety into pathology and then converts it back again at the end with a Song of Bernadette conclusion. I don't know what the title means. I do know that this ridiculous film won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.[ Dec. 9, 1996]
Oct 30, 2018
5
Despite Emily Watson's masterful acting, here's a pretentious and not a ambitious film.
Aug 2, 2015
0
Deadly boring. Give me back my 150 minutes. Total waste of time. I will never understand why people are so fascinated by these artsy craps. My eyes still hurt because of the pixeling..
Production Company:
- ARTE
- Argus Film Produktie
- Canal+
- CoBo Fonds
- Coproduction Office
- Det Danske Filminstitut
- Eurimages
- European Script Fund
- Finnish Film Foundation
- Icelandic Film
- La Sept Cinéma
- Liberator Productions
- Lucky Red
- Media Investment Club
- Memfis Film
- Nederlands Filmfonds
- Nordisk Film & TV-Fond
- Norsk Filminstitutt (NFI)
- Northern Lights
- October Films
- SVT Drama
- Slot Machine
- Svenska Filminstitutet (SFI)
- TV 1000
- The European Script Fund
- Trust Film Svenska
- Villealfa Filmproductions
- Vrijzinnig Protestantse Radio Omroep (VPRO)
- Yleisradio (YLE)
- Zentropa Entertainments
- Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF)
Release Date:Nov 13, 1996
Duration:2 h 39 m
Rating:R
Tagline:Love is a mighty power.
Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 2 Nominations
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Nomination
Danish Film Awards (Robert)
• 9 Wins & 9 Nominations
