Breaking the Waves

Director: Lars Von Trier, Lars Von Trier, Lars Von Trier

1996 / 159min / 35mm

Von Trier’s international breakthrough gave Emily Watson the role of a lifetime as Bess, a deeply religious newlywed living in the Scottish Highlands faced with an impossible decision when her husband, paralyzed in a work-related accident, asks her to start sleeping with strangers for his vicarious fulfillment. “Emotionally and spiritually challenging, hammering at conventional morality… Not many movies like this get made, because not many filmmakers are so bold, angry and defiant.”—Roger Ebert

Print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive