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Breaking the Waves
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OverviewAI-generated
*Breaking the Waves* is a 1996 drama and romance film directed by Lars von Trier, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Peter Asmussen. The cast includes Emily Watson, Stellan Skarsgård, Katrin Cartlidge, and Jean-Marc Barr. Produced by Zentropa, the film was shot in 35 mm format and edited by Anders Refn. It originated from Denmark, Sweden, France, and the Netherlands, with production support from companies including Liberator Productions and Trust Film Svenska.
Set in the 1970s in the Highland, the narrative explores themes of love, innocence, social exclusion, and altruistic suicide. The film has a runtime of 152 minutes, though other sources list durations of 153 and 159 minutes. It was distributed in video on demand format.
The film received the Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix, the César Award for Best Foreign Film, and the European Film Award for Best Film. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and the European Film Academy Critics Award. Audience ratings include a 7.8 on IMDb and a 7.5 on TMDb.
Synthesized by Vinony from 40 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, TMDb, IMDb, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Film · TMDB
7.5In a small, conservative Scottish village, an oilman is paralyzed in an accident. His wife, who prayed for his return, feels guilty; even more, when he urges her to have sex with another.
Cast
- Emily Watson as Bess McNeill
- Stellan Skarsgård as Jan Nyman
- Katrin Cartlidge as Dodo McNeill
- Jean-Marc Barr as Terry
- Adrian Rawlins as Dr. Richardson
- Jonathan Hackett as Priest
Themes
- underdog
- dying and death
- prostitute
- paraplegic
- parent child relationship
- faith
- scotland
- society
- tradition
- prayer
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Key facts
- Directed by
- Lars von Trier
- Written by
- Lars von Trier, Peter Asmussen
- Produced by
- Peter Aalbæk Jensen , Vibeke Windeløv
- Starring
- Emily Watson , Stellan Skarsgård , Katrin Cartlidge , Jean-Marc Barr , Udo Kier
- Cinematography
- Robby Müller
- Edited by
- Anders Refn
- Production company
- Zentropa
- Distributed by
- Metronome Films ApS (Denmark) , Svenska Filminstitutet , Triangelfilm (Sweden) , Les Films du Losange (France) , Norsk Film Distribusjon (Norway) , Senso Films (Finland) , Lucky Red (Italy) , Pandora Film (Germany) , October Films (United States)
- Release date
- 18 May 1996 ( 1996-05-18 ) ( Cannes )
- Running time
- 158 minutes
- Countries
- Denmark, Sweden, France, Netherlands, Norway, Iceland, Finland , Italy , Germany , United States
- Language
- English
- Budget
- $7.5 million
- Box office
- $23 million
via Wikipedia infobox
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Encyclopedic overview
Breaking the Waves is a 1996 psychological romantic melodrama film directed and co-written by Lars von Trier and starring Emily Watson in her feature film acting debut, and with Stellan Skarsgård, a frequent collaborator with von Trier.
Set in the Scottish Highlands in the early 1970s, it is about an unusual young woman and the love she has for her husband. The film is divided into seven chapters and an epilogue, separated by audio-visual art by Per Kirkeby and accompanied by music.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Breaking the Waves” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.