I've never seen anything by Lars von Trier before, but this one makes me want to go out and hunt down all his others. Emily Watson is incredible in this beautiful but tragic tale of someone willing to go to any lengths for love. That sounds like an IMDb summary for a terrible chick flick tearjerker, but this is a much more complex, difficult movie than that plot synopsis seems to indicate. Unfortunately, I'm realizing as I try to write this review that it's one of those movies that I have trouble articulating my feelings about. This movie is heartbreaking and beautiful and awful and definitely deserves the high rating it's getting, even if I can't exactly tell you why. I'm just going to leave this terrible vague review there, since I doubt I'm going to be able to articulate any better than that any time soon. 4.5 stars
Best Part: Emily Watson. She's amazing in this role. Such a clear character.
Worst Part: I may have to come back to you on this one. Because at the moment I can only remember all the things I love about it, and I can't think of anything on the other side.
Flickchart: #208, below The Sunshine Boys and above American Splendor.
2 comments:
Breaking the Waves wasn't my first von Trier; I had seen Antichrist and Dancer in the Dark before it. But I had the same reaction of "Oh God, I need to see everything this guy has ever made" after seeing this one. Spellbinding stuff, and Watson is indeed brilliant. Glad to hear you liked it.
I'd recommend you try to track down Dancer in the Dark. It has a similar feel as Breaking the Waves, plus it's a musical, which I know you have a certain fondness for.
Yeah, I've wanted to see Dancer in the Dark for a long time. I just haven't ever gotten around to it. But now that I know how much I loved this one, I really *really* want to see it.
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