An emotionally draining masterpiece, right up till the corny last shot of the church bells in heaven. Up until that moment I was completely captivated, and then in 5 silly seconds I stopped believing in the film. Up till that moment this film was a 10 all the way, with absolutely marvelous performances and dialogue. Even the use of 70s pop music doesn't seem too forced, even if it was a little Wes Anderson-ish.

Excellent.

Led by an extraordinary performance by Emily Watson and searing in its emotional intensity. A condemnation of misogyny and society's continued enforcing of the madonna-whore complex, mixed in with a telling of the passion play. To quote Chantal Akerman; "[von Trier] gives the woman a space that I don't know any filmmaker does. Because in Breaking The Waves, Emily Watson is the Christ. Which man is doing that? I don't know any man giving that space to a woman. No one."

382

Stark, depressing. Very powerful acting by Emily Watson.

I feel as though I should have loved this, but I didn't. In fact, i found it mildly annoying as I sat through it. Emily Watson gives a great performance as Bess, but the character was too hard to tolerate. Skarsgaard appears in yet another depressing film/role, as is his forte. This is a bleak, twisted film that should only be viewed by those upbeat enough to be immune to it dragging their spirits down into its morass.

There was nothing enjoyable about this movie.

It has its flaws, but the emotional impact is very strong. Trier knows his stuff.

#, reviews

Yes the script is good. Yes the directing is excellent and yes the support cast are superb. But all of this pales into insignifcance when Emily Watson's performance is taken into account. Without doubt Watson puts in one of the finest lead performances of the 1990's, if not ever! Epic.

Lars von Trier - master manipulator. The performance of Emily Watson must be seen to be believed.

This is one of the first movies I watched "seriously", so it's eminently possible I just wasn't sophisticated to get it. On the other hand, I remember feeling it was too long and too one-note. Everything and everyone is out to get Bess, even her own invented God. It's wearying.

One of the most emotionally intense movies I've seen. I swear I cried out at least three quarters of my body's fluids. Bit concerned about those CGI bells at the end though.

It hurts so bad. Watson's naivety and innocence is so, so painful. von Trier's condemnation of religion and musings on God and such are all great too but really it's all about Watson. It's just gut-wrenching.

The brilliant acting stays with you long after finished the movie, which is a true victory for Lars von Trier, in spite of the sometimes forced screenplay.

It would be incredibly easy to criticize this as being von Triers most misguided film (not an unusal trait to expect from him), but that doesn't seem fair considering misguidance is basically the central theme, and with Watson's stellar performance, it makes her actions completely believable.

inept screenplay, but emily watson is amazing

started good,got worst and worst and what was that ending,I can usually take a little supernatural bullshit but that wasn't even appealing