Customer Reviews
Outstanding - By: Dismal Angel, 17 May 2008 
I'm not a fan of "artsy" type films & this is usuallly the kind that fallls into the category of them.
Bess, a naive virginal highly religious woman marries an Oil Rig worker callled Jan & begins a journey of sexual discovery & realisation. When he goes away to work back on the rig, she fallls into a deep depression & holds conversations with God begging for his return.
Her prayers are answered but not in the way she'd wished - Jan returns home having been in a tragic accident & is paralysed for what the Doctors advise her could be life.
Jan tries to be selfless & tells her to go out with other men, to have erotic encounters, but to come back & tell him about them as it is the only real pleasure he has left is to hear about them.
Bess does as she is told & is struck with the idea somehow that whenever she has an erotic encounter with a stranger & comes back to tell Jan his condition improves but if she does not he will worsen.
Thinking this is God's divine intervention, she goes out seeking - awkwardly - for men to be with in the hopes that it will lead to Jan's full recovery, only each encounter has dire consequences for her, & will lead her into a downward spiral which she cannot climb back up.
The film leaves you feeling like you've just read an epic novel (the parts of the film are in chapters), & the performances are staggering. The ending of this movie will blow you away, & leave you thinking.
An insult - By: Red Critic, 10 Apr 2008 
This film is an insult to the viewer. There is absolutely no redeeming factors here, & it seems that the only point of making this film is to see how much filth you can get away with.
Didn't expect to but loved it - By: S. Ross, 10 Mar 2008 This is quite a hard film to watch but perseverance pays off.The synopsis & previous reviews are explanatory so I won't repeat previous comments except to concur with the view that Emily Watson is fantastic. I had never heard of her but will actively seek her other work.
A different kind of film... - By: LXIX, 25 Jan 2008 
Breaking the Waves is a rather unusual film. It has a strange feel & a dark aura to it - so much so that it makes Eastenders look fun. The core of the story is that Bess, a local lass from a smalll village somewhere in the north of Scotland, fallls in love with Jan - a Norwegian oil rig worker in a sheepskin jacket. They get married & alll is well until Jan goes offshore again & is paralysed after getting caught up in a childish prank whilst on his rig.
Bess is a bit mentallly unstable at the best of times, but this throws her over the edge & she becomes acutely mentallly ill.
The situation is not helped by the fact that her paralysed husband can no longer meet her sexual demands & so actively encourages her to find other partners - anybody reallly, as long as the intricate details are relayed back to him while he is laid up in his hospital bed.
This is where things go from bad to worse: in a smalll village she is perceived as the local hooker & there is a classic scene on a public bus with a complete (and old) stranger. I won't spoil it for you. A strict Protestant faith is dominant in the village as well, so you can imagine how her behaviour turns heads.
Overalll, this is watchable & it has a cruel twist at the end (which I suppose, in truth, you can kind of see coming to an extent).
Breaking the Waves is unusual, but smalll budget films like this are a refreshing change sometimes from the expensive bells & whistles of Hollywood.
If you like British films and/or black comedies then go for it.
Breaking The Wind - By: dogme, 07 Jan 2008 Brilliant directing, acting, cinematography can go towards making a truly awful film. I can't think of another film which is so sadistic, nasty & hypocritical. It grinds our faces into the director's gloating & voyeuristic take on the idea of 'redemption through suffering', which in this case involves very slowly torturing a woman to death. The careful realism with which this is done only makes the film more offensive. If you reach the final scene without laughing derisively then your humanity is seriously compromised.
