Danish film director Lars Von Trier destined for greater fame
By Intan Petersen
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (JP): Danish film director Lars Von Trier is bound to gain special attention at the upcoming Academy Awards Ceremony next Monday.
In his newest film Breaking the Waves, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the l996 Cannes Film Festival, Emily Watson is nominated for best actress.
Today, Von Trier is indisputably Denmark's most important film director since Carl Th. Dreyer, whom von Trier admires very much. Before Breaking the Waves, von Trier was already a household name in Denmark following his 1994 successful TV series The Kingdom.
Breaking the Waves, produced by Zentropa Entertainment, is about "good", says the director, who categorizes his film as a sensual melodrama. "It is a love story, a story about people and emotions. There are no bad guys, only misunderstandings," says von Trier.
His main characters are Bess (played by British actress Emily Watson), a naive virgin, and Jan (Stellan Skarsgard), a virile rigger on a North Sea oil rig.
The setting is the l970s in a tiny village of blue-nosed Calvinistic zealots opposed to the marriage of the innocent virgin to an outsider.Breaking the Waves was shot in Copenhagen and on the isle of Skye, off the northwest coast of Scotland.
Bess, whose life is strictly controlled by her family, falls in love with a Scandinavian oil-rig worker. The newlyweds' bliss is short-lived. Jans has to return to the rig, leaving his bride alone. Deeply religious, Bess prays for their immediate reunion. She is sure that their love is made in heaven and she believes that she can communicate with God.
God may have cruelly answered her prayer. Her husband returns to the village but is paralyzed after a serious accident at the rig. Returning as a paraplegic, Jan knows that he will never be Bess' lover again. As proof of their love and marital commitment, Jan suggests Bess has sex with other men. Jan tells her that her sacrifice is his redemption. But later, it is also her downfall and damnation.
At first, Bess is very angry at his idea but Jan lies to her, saying that he wants her to take a lover so she can come to him afterwards and tell him in detail about her experiences in order to prolong his life and diminish her sexual needs. Jan knows that it will be painful to listen to her story.
Jan, an outsider who never belonged to the church, does not realize that his suggestion will lead his wife into serious trouble with the community and the church.
Bess is being fooled into doing "good" things for her husband. Jan is also doing "good" for her. They both act from their willingness to do "good" deeds.
In Breaking the Waves, Von Trier attempts to uncover religious conflict between the church, society and Bess, an individual. The righteous Calvinistic community and church are furious that their dear Bess is committing such immoral acts. Bess is immediately expelled from her religious circle and called a witch.
Von Trier says that the story illustrates that love blossoms everywhere, even among undemonstrative people like in this Calvinistic society. Although Bess and Jan are from different cultures, they communicate very well.