breaking the waves 

By Lars Von Trier

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

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.

Production Zentropa Entertainments

Duration 2h38
Year of production 1996
Release date France October 9, 1996
Nationality Denmark
Script Lars Von Trier, Peter Asmussen
Distribution France Les Films du Losange
Ventes Internationales Trust Film

Grand Prix of the Jury - Cannes Festival 1996
César 1997 - Best Foreign Film

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]

Format 35 mm
Sound Format Dolby SRD

Image Robby Müller
Sound Kas Baggström

Editing Anders Refn
Costume designer Manon Rasmussen