BREAKING THE WAVES by Lars Von Trier

Official selection in competition Cannes 1996 - Grand Prix

Synopsis :

"God gives everyone something to be good at"

In the early 1970s a naive young girl, Bess, living in a small community on the North West coast of Scotland, falls in love with oil-rig worker and man-of-the-world Jan. Despite local opposition they marry.  Jan returns to the rig, whilst Bess counts the days to his homecoming sure that their love is made in heaven, especially as she is convinced she can mentally communicate with God. When an accident renders Jan paralysed he is worried that Bess will cut herself off from a normal life.  Realising that he will be bedridden, he convinces her that she will aid his recovery by taking a lover and relating to him their sexual acts.

Title : BREAKING THE WAVES
Original title : BREAKING THE WAVES
Director : Lars Von Trier
Genre : Drame   
Length : 2h38
Format : 35mm
Sound : Dolby SRD
Country of Origin : Denmark
Year of production : 1996
Producer : Zentropa Entertainments
Coproducers : Liberator Productions, Argus Film Produktie [nl]  - Canal+ [be]  - CoBo Fund [nl]  - Det Danske Filminstitut [dk]  - Eurimages  - European Script Fund  - Finnish Film Foundation [fi]  - La Sept Cinéma [fr]  - Liberator Productions  - Lucky Red [it]  - Media Investment Club [dk]  - Nederlands Fonds voor de Film [nl]  - Nordisk Film- & TV-Fond [dk/no/se/fi/is]  - Northern Lights A/S [no]  - Norwegian Film Institute [no]  - October Films [us]  - Philippe Bobor  - SVT Drama [se]  - Svenska Filminstitutet (SFI) [se]  - TV1000 AB  - The Icelandic Film Corporation [is]  - Trust Film Svenska [se]  - VPRO Television [nl]  - Villealfa Filmproduction Oy [fi]  - Yleisradio (YLE) [fi]  - Zentropa Entertainments [dk]  - Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) [de]  - arte [fr/de]

Principal cast :

Emily Watson
Stellan Skarsgard
Katrin Cartlidge
Jean-Marc Barr
Udo Kier

Price :

* Prix du Jury - Festival de Cannes 1996
* César - Meilleur Film Etranger 1997
* Grand Prix / Prix de la Critique - Académie Européenne du Film 1996

Website :
Trust Film Website