Introduction to breaking the waves

Introduction to breaking the waves | appreciation | reflection

1995 color film 158 minutes

Co-produced by Denmark/Sweden/France/Netherlands/Norway

Director: Lars von Trien Screenplay: Peter Asmussen Lars von Trien Photography: Robbie Murray Main Actors: emily watson (as Beth McNee) Stan Scarsgaard (as Jane) Katrina Katrine (as Tao Tao) Adrian Rollins (as the doctor) Sandra Wolins.

This film won the jury award of Cannes International Film Festival1996; 1996 Best Actress Award at Felix European Film Festival; 1997 French Caesar Film Award for Best Foreign Language Film Award

abstract

The story takes place in a remote and closed village in Aberdeen Islands, Scotland. The villagers think they are the voters of God and the guardians of their own morality, especially the morality of their neighbors. Presbyterian church is the highest religious authority in this village, and it has an omnipresent influence on secular social life. Although the time has entered the 1970s, according to the local canon, there are no bells in the church, so parishioners naturally can't hear the church bells. Women can't talk in church, and they are forbidden to attend funerals, even those of their families. If they commit adultery, they will be excommunicated, which is actually equivalent to being expelled from this mountain village and being sentenced to hell by the Presbyterian church after their death.

Beth Nye, the heroine, grew up in such an environment. She is young and beautiful, with a touch of innocence in innocence and kindness, and a touch of nervousness in enthusiasm and liveliness. In this small community full of strict rules and regulations and suffocating religious atmosphere, her presence is particularly eye-catching. The meeting with Jane, an offshore oil worker, broke her quiet life. Jane is an oil worker working on an offshore drilling platform. They fell in love at first sight, fell in love with each other and got married soon. However, this incident aroused the antipathy of the Presbyterian Church and most villagers, because Jane was a foreigner and an intruder to them, and a challenge and threat to their isolated life. At that time, the North Sea oil drilling industry had just started. This isolated religious village was "invaded" by international drilling teams composed of young people from different countries. They drink beer and listen to music that disgusted the local people.

The film begins with a lively wedding scene. Beth, sister-in-law Tao Tao and some relatives and friends are waiting for the arrival of the groom in the square near the village. Beth was worried and angry when the groom was late for the wedding. Suddenly, a helicopter appeared on the sea near the village, and then landed slowly in the seaside square at the head of the village. Beth was ecstatic to see her sweetheart fall from the sky. As soon as the door of the plane opened, she threw herself into Jane's arms. Jane was accompanied by several friends who worked on offshore drilling platforms, and a group of people went straight to the church. The wedding was presided over by a priest in the church. To some extent, he is also a person who can recognize Beth's voice. After the wedding ceremony in the church, people walked out of the church one after another. Jane's friend Terry was surprised and delighted when he saw that there was no clock in the church. He asked the Presbyterian why, but no one gave him a satisfactory answer. Just then, the sky was still clear and suddenly it began to rain. People rushed to the wedding banquet hall in the village to attend the wedding banquet.

The newlyweds live a very happy life. Jane is a person who has seen the world. He has a lot of knowledge and experience, including love experience. Beth is madly in love with Jane. For Beth, who has lived in a suffocating religious abstinence environment for a long time, this love is the root of her physical and mental liberation. Jane also loves Beth deeply. For Jane Eyre, who has been wandering all the year round, this love is a harbor where his tired body and mind can rest. Shortly after her wedding, Beth, who tasted the nectar of love for the first time, was immersed in happiness, savoring the joy of spiritual blending and the love between men and women.

As Jane worked on an offshore drilling platform and just had a short honeymoon, she was going to work at sea, so it was natural for Beth to be sad when she left the wedding. When Jane is away, Beth feels that days are like years. Jane called Beth, and Beth waited at a telephone booth near the village as promised. Because Jane worked overtime, she couldn't get away at the moment, so she couldn't call her in time. But Beth believed that Jane would call and still waited in the phone booth, and then she fell asleep unconsciously in the phone booth. Finally, she waited for Jane's phone call, and they told each other what they thought by phone. The waiting time is difficult. The closer Jane came back, the more anxious Beth became. Mother and Tao Tao were worried about her when they saw her. Mother persuaded her that this is how women in this village live. Since most men work at sea, women's families should get used to being alone at home. Tao Tao is Beth's sister-in-law and her best friend. Since Beth's brother died, Tao Tao has never remarried, but has been living in their home. Seeing Beth's anxiety, I can only comfort her. She can't see her beloved, and Beth can only pray for God to bless her husband's safe return. Sometimes she even goes to church at midnight to pray for Jane.

Jane finally came back, but unfortunately, he was seriously injured in an accident and suffered a serious brain impact. The doctor diagnosed that Jane's life was in danger. Even if she survives, she may be paralyzed for life. Beth was extremely sad and depressed. Jane was placed in the town hospital for treatment. Tao Tao works as a nurse in this hospital and takes good care of Jane. Jane's condition gradually improved, and she was discharged from the hospital and went home to recuperate, but she still couldn't walk, so she had to lie in bed all day to kill time. Jane's illness also makes Beth fidgety. Beth, who was a little neurotic, is even more depressed now. Tao Tao suggested that Beth go to the town hospital to see Dr. Richardson, but it didn't help Beth.

As the days passed, I saw a beautiful young wife accompanying a cripple like a widow. Jane felt that her happiness should not be affected by illness, so she suggested that she find a lover. However, how can Beth, who is kind and loyal by nature, be willing to do so? Soon, Jane's illness worsened and she was forced to stay in the hospital for treatment. One day, he told Beth that she should find a lover and go to * * *. When she is with another man, just treat her as * * * with him, and then tell him about her * * * experience, just like they are in * * *. Jane also tells Beth that he needs love, and once he loses the feeling of love, his life will stop. Beth didn't want to at first, but out of loyal love for Jane, she finally managed to throw herself into the arms of other men. Beth's behavior was despised by the church and her family, but thinking that it would be good for Jane's recovery, she did it without hesitation.

Dr Richardson actually loves Beth very much, and it's not good to see Beth dating another man outside. After publicly telling Beth that his love was rejected, he exercised his power as a doctor on the grounds that living with sick Jane was bad for Beth's mental health, and suggested to Tao Tao that Beth should be sent to a mental hospital in Glasgow for treatment. Jane disagreed with Richardson's suggestion from the bottom of her heart, but she was forced to sign the diagnosis. However, Beth managed to sneak back before being sent to a mental hospital.

Jane's illness is sometimes light and sometimes heavy, and Dr. Richardson's treatment plan for Jane is helpless. However, believing that the power of love can save Jane's life, Beth becomes more and more loyal and listens to Jane's request to be with other men. One day, she came to the port near the town, got on a big ship and was abused by a madman. She was cut by a knife, but because of her wit, she was able to escape. When she returned to the village, she was bullied by a group of teenagers. When the priest saw that she was bullied, he just drove the child away and watched Beth go away. Later, exhausted Beth came home and begged her mother to open the door for her, but her mother refused.

Despite Beth's efforts, Jane's condition is getting worse and worse, and the hospital gradually feels powerless to treat Jane. Tao Tao also advised Beth not to do anything in vain for Jane. However, Beth believes that Jane's illness has not improved because she is not loyal enough to him. One day, she sent Tao Tao to the hospital to pray for Jane and went to the port by herself. In the hospital, Tao Tao prayed to Jane who was dying, but was laughed at by Dr. Richardson. Beth came back to the big ship she had been to that day and let the sadist abuse herself. As a result, Beth was black and blue and bloody, and was taken to the town hospital. Before the operation, she asked to see Jane. Seeing that Jane still showed no signs of improvement, she felt a little taken in. Shortly after entering the operating room, Beth's mother rushed to see her daughter. Not long after, Beth died.

However, God did not deceive Beth. Because of her loyalty, Jane finally recovered and broke free from death. The local court tried Dr. Richardson, who was accused of medical responsibility for Beth's death. The end result was that Richardson was acquitted. Presbyterian church can not only decide whether the local church can have a clock, but also decide whether the deceased will go to heaven or hell. There are two cemeteries in the village, one is the cemetery of those who were sentenced to heaven by the Presbyterian church, and the other is the cemetery of those who were sentenced to hell by them. Beth naturally belongs to the latter. However, the day before Beth's coffin was buried in the grave, Jane took some friends to the seaside and filled a bag with sand. Dr Richardson also came to help. In the evening, they came to the place where Beth's coffin was parked, carried Beth's body out of the coffin and filled it with sand.

Members of the Presbyterian church and the clergy of the church are holding a funeral for Beth. The funeral was abandoned. In addition to the clergy, only Dr. Tao Tao and Dr. Richardson came to say goodbye to Beth far from the grave. The priest read Beth's sentence: "Beth McNee, you are a guilty man. Because of your sin, you are sentenced to hell. " Tao Tao, who was near the cemetery, finally couldn't help but see this scene, ran to the grave and angrily reprimanded the gang: "None of you have the right to sentence Beth to hell!"

When the clergy held a funeral for Beth, Jane and several of his friends were taking a cargo ship to the offshore construction site. Beth's body was wrapped in a simple bag and placed on the deck of the cargo ship. Jane trudged onto the deck on crutches, looked at Beth's body and couldn't help crying. In the evening, Jane woke up some good friends and prepared to throw Beth's body into the sea. Jane opened the pocket containing Beth's body and finally kissed his wife goodbye, heartbroken. The cargo ship is still sailing on the vast sea, through the night, ushered in the dawn. Jane is still immersed in sadness. His good friend Terry happily came to the cabin to wake him up and helped him to the deck. The deck is already crowded with people. They are listening to the crisp and melodious bell. At first, people couldn't believe their ears and thought the bell came from the radio. No, it obviously comes from heaven. The film ends with such a scene: in a remote paradise, two huge clocks swing back and forth, ringing melodious bells, and ships on the sea, villages, fields and mountains are faintly visible through colorful clouds. ...

Distinguish and appreciate

Andre Marlowe, a famous French writer, once asserted that the 20th century is either a century of religion or a century of destruction. It sounds shocking at first glance, but at least it shows the importance of religion in western social life. Although Nietzsche solemnly declared that "God is dead" at the end of last century, can a mere philosopher who lives on the earth like a dust in the universe judge the life and death of God who roams freely in the vast universe?

Religion has a far-reaching influence on human social life. The debate on the existence of God is almost as old as human history, and the debate on this issue in movies is always accompanied by the Seventh Art, from Carl Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc to ingmar bergman's The Seventh Seal, from Kiesh Lovsky's The Ten Commandments to Pialat's In the Sun of Satan. From jean jacques annaud's "The Name of the Rose" to martin scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ", almost every western movie master has touched on religious issues. Since 1980s, the film creation of such themes has shown an increasingly prosperous trend, attracting more and more people.

The new film Breaking the Waves, co-produced by Denmark, France, Sweden, the Netherlands and Norway and directed by Danish film director Lars von Trien, is another religious film. The film caused a great sensation at the Cannes Film Festival from 65438 to 0996. Although he didn't win the Palme d 'Or, he was favored by the jury and film critics and was awarded the jury award. Since then, it has exerted more and more influence in Europe, America and even the international film industry: 1996 was awarded the best film award in Europe and the jury award by Felix Film Festival; 1997 French Caesar Film Award awarded her the Best Foreign Language Film Award, and she was nominated for the Best Actress in the Golden Globe Award and the Oscar Award that year. The Dictionary of World Key Movies published by Lalus Publishing House 1997, 1996 received only one global key movie, namely Breaking the Waves; The famous "Studio" magazine initiated French film critics and audiences to select ten world films in the past decade, and this film is also among the best. Dick Malcolm, a famous American film critic, said, "1996, none of the movies I have seen is more thrilling than Breaking the Waves." European and American film critics generally believe that if you don't go to the cinema to see this film, you will miss a major event in the film industry from 65438 to 0996.

Breaking the Waves is Trione's fifth film. It is a film that makes full use of digital technology to transform the picture to create a romantic and mysterious atmosphere, and makes bold explorations and experiments in film language. Trien is a director who likes criticism and censure. His magical detective film The Factor of Crime (1984) has attracted people's attention, especially Europa (199 1), which is a film that is a metaphor for German political events. He is the most important director in Danish film industry after Carl Dreyer, and his works are deeply influenced by Scandinavian masters Dreier and Bergman.

This film tells a story about religion, love and sex, full of * * *, strong appeal and mystery, showing God's observation and judgment on a community in Scotland. This is a melodrama with strong feelings: it ignites a strong fire of love in an arbitrary and suffocating religious atmosphere, and the energetic and therapeutic joy is in sharp contrast with the rules and regulations of the church. The film seems to have brought people to Britain in the romantic period of the19th century, and to those super-sensory, shocking and obscure stories written by the Bronte sisters. Tryon's film was inspired by a revived melodrama by Danish-American Douglas SK in 1950s, and the film Odei by Derel, which also touched the miracle that happened in a religious group that refused to accept the unexplained. Breaking the Waves preaches the Catholic doctrine of sacrificing one's life for salvation. However, Trien combined sin, punishment and gratitude in a ritual love spell, which seems to tell people that happiness equals practice, and his practice has attracted a lot of criticism.

Trien likes to make movies with mature ideas. It takes five years from the beginning to the completion of Breaking the Waves, but the original idea of this film can be traced back to the author's childhood. When talking about the creative process of this film, Trien said: "I want to make a film that shows kindness. I remember reading a picture book called Golden Heart when I was a child, which left a strong and deep impression on me. This picture book tells the story of a little girl walking alone through a big forest with only a few pieces of bread in her pocket. After crossing the forest, she found herself naked and had nothing. The last sentence of that picture book is:' But I can manage'. This sentence expresses the severe test that any martyr may go through. I have read that picture book many times, although my father thinks it is the most worthless picture book. The story of breaking the waves must have found its original idea in this book, and the protagonist in Golden Heart is Beth in the movie Breaking the Waves. I also want to make it into a movie with a religious theme, a movie about miracles, and a completely naturalistic movie. "

The content of Breaking the Waves obviously has a strong religious color, which is of course related to Terry's own religious belief. Trien's parents are staunch atheists, and Trien himself was skeptical about religion when he was young. Later, he felt it necessary to belong to a loyal society and converted to Catholicism. Since then, he has always wanted to make a film questioning the existence of religion. The process of filming this film is also the process of Trent thinking about religion, and he has integrated this thinking into the film.

When it comes to religion, we can't help talking about God. Speaking of God, the question that has puzzled mankind for thousands of years is "Does God exist or not?" This problem was put forward almost immediately after the establishment of various religions, which puzzled generations. Everyone can give his own answer to this question, but there are only two: God exists or God does not exist. Or there is a third kind, that is, "if you believe, you will have it." From this perspective, people can be divided into two categories: those who believe in the existence of God and those who don't believe in the existence of God (including those who doubt the existence of God). Directors who make religious films can also be divided into two categories. Some directors deny or doubt the existence of God, while others firmly believe in the existence of God. Trien obviously belongs to the latter.

Interestingly, Trien said, "I am a Catholic, but I don't appreciate the Catholic doctrine itself." His attitude towards religion is quite similar to that of early Danish movie master and Dreier. Dreier attacked religion in all his films, but he never attacked God. The same is true when Trion wrote "Breaking the Waves". Derel's The Suffering of Joan of Arc and Gertrude certainly influenced his creation of Breaking the Waves. In Breaking the Waves, Trien does not think about the existence of God, but explores who will ring the bell of heaven. Can those churches at all levels represent God's will? Are they incarnations of God? Do they have the right to make moral judgments on their parishioners?

The metaphor of church bells in the film is meaningful. Sean Rosenhahn, an American film critic, said when commenting on a biographical film about British scientist Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time. During the Renaissance, people once compared God to a clockmaker, and Zhong Ziran hanging on the spire of a towering church was metaphorically regarded as a voice from heaven and God. However, in that remote Scottish mountain village, those self-righteous Presbyterian priests actually blocked their voices. Religious teachings are often distorted in the interpretation of churches and clergy at all levels. They either can't explain it clearly because of their limited ability, or they deliberately make a distorted interpretation because of their personal interests.

Trien has shown the power mechanism and its existing problems in many films. In Breaking the Waves, he also described religious institutions as a power mechanism, such as a small Scottish society. Trien did not criticize such an honest society, but sympathized with it. Everyone in the film is sincere, including Beth's mother and grandfather, Presbyterian and devout pastor. They are all extremely loyal to their beliefs. Sadly, they never consider whether their beliefs are reasonable or not. Trien believes that people are often confused about religious issues and often understand and treat religious issues in an excessive way. However, if you want to create a sitcom, you must set up some obstacles. For the creation of Breaking the Waves, the religious issue is a suitable obstacle.

Most of Trien's previous films have satirical features, but people can't see this feature in Breaking the Waves. He explained it this way: "When I was studying in the Film Academy, people often said that all good movies have some form of humor, except Derel's movies. In most of Derel's films, we can't see any traces of humor. We can say that when humor is introduced into the works, people will have a sense of distance to the works. In Breaking the Waves, I don't want to stay away from the narrative and the strong feelings of the characters. " He thinks this strong emotional input is very important for shooting this film. Because Trien was forbidden to be strong in his own growing environment, he may only experience and express strong feelings in his artistic creation. His family criticized him after watching this romantic film. His uncle, a documentary director, thinks the film is a complete failure from beginning to end, while his brother, who also works in the film industry, thinks the film is boring and meaningless, but this does not prevent them from giving strong support to the filming of the film.

The dialogue between Beth and God in the film is simple and full of tension, which adds a humanitarian voice to this religious film. At this point, Trien still maintains the inheritance relationship with Dreier, because Derel's attitude towards religion is humanitarian in the final analysis. At the same time, Trien did it out of the need of film expression, otherwise Beth's psychological activities of communicating with God could not be better expressed. Beth is the product of her religion. She conflicts with several different power mechanisms, including the power exercised by hospitals and doctors. She is kind in nature, so she can only hold her ground with her loyalty to God, resist all the blows from the world with her strong will and pure heart, and bear the unbearable pain of love.

Although Trien and Dreier lived in different times and their film expressions were different, they both explored the style of "mainland film" with the same enthusiasm. Contrary to people's overemphasis on the "visualization" of film art, Dreier thinks that film brings an important possibility for innovative artistic expression, which is "abstraction". He once defined the meaning of "abstraction" in an article: "The artist's will to stay away from reality in order to express the spiritual connotation of the film."

Talking about the characteristics of film modeling, the picture composition of Breaking the Waves is simple and clear, and the colors are fresh and unified, especially the landscape pictures connecting the story chapters, which, like classical oil paintings, brought people to The Romantic Period and19th century England. Breaking the Waves was filmed on Skarn Island in northwest Scotland. The scenery here is unique, with a large area of wasteland and steep rocks. It is magnificent and beautiful, cold and simple, and a little primitive. "At first, I wanted to shoot this film on the west coast of jutland. Later, I want to go to Norway, Ireland, and then Ostend, Belgium. Finally, I decided to shoot in Scotland. It's no coincidence that most of the plays were shot on Skarn Island. In Britain, The Romantic Period, this island is where many painters and writers live. " When shooting the location, the film crew has already processed and transformed the set, but it is still not enough. Trien and his creative team use computer means to process the pictures in post-production to make the scenery meet the artistic ideal of the director to the greatest extent. On the other hand, it is difficult to see the traces of manual processing because of its ingenious handling methods. Judging from the finished film, there is almost no trace of digital processing.

Speaking of using computers to participate in film creation, Trien told people an interesting story: in the process of raising funds for the film, "we got a script writing grant from an organization called the European Script Foundation. The work of those who review and select scripts has been severely criticized. In order to improve their work, the person in charge analyzed more than a dozen scripts sent by the computer. They claim that computers can judge the artistic taste and commercial interests of a film production plan. The script of breaking the waves scored high. Its formula may be very good: the story of a sailor and a virgin, romantic scenery, these factors should be very appreciated by the computer. "

In terms of photography, most of the scenes in the film are shot by photographers carrying cameras. Photographers capture the process of events on the spot, just like reporting emergencies truthfully. The documentary style of Breaking the Waves is very obvious. In fact, Trien had already tried complicated technical means when shooting Europa. When filming "Breaking the Waves", he put forward new challenges to himself in exploring the film language, shooting wide-screen movies with a camera on his shoulder. The effect of this approach is that it is convenient to keep the lens focused on the actor all the time, and each lens is different from the previous one. This requires photographers to maximize their flexibility, capture the fleeting improvisation of actors, and the actors are constantly inspiring new inspiration in the ever-changing photography angles and scenes. It doesn't matter if the actor's lines are different from the script during the performance, and it doesn't matter if the camera jumps during the shooting. The shooting mode in which the lens movement and the actors stimulate and blend with each other puts forward higher requirements for photographers and actors. But Trien knew how to mobilize the enthusiasm of all departments, dared to use and guide actors boldly, and finally successfully completed a challenging artistic exploration. Photographer Robbie Murray was the old partner of the famous German director WIM· Wenders. At first, he didn't adapt to this shooting method, but finally he overcame many difficulties and completed his own exploration in photography.

The application of technology is mainly in the production of scenery. "The technique of shooting comes from my experience of creating a kingdom," Trien said. "I almost used the same shooting method as that movie. Because it looks a bit conventional, I think we should give the film a realistic form as much as possible, a more documentary form. I don't think this story can be supported if "Breaking the Waves" is filmed in a stylized way. Usually, people will choose the film style to emphasize narrative, but we do the opposite. We choose a style that is contrary to the general narrative, excluding all possibilities of emphasizing narrative. What we do is to adopt a style and put it in front of the narrative like a color filter. This will make people think of encrypted TV, which must be decrypted to watch movies on TV. Here we encrypt the film, and then the audience decodes it. I gave the film a strong documentary style, which was actually cancelled, which runs counter to the documentary style, which shows that we accept the story itself. "

The editing of the film is very bold and unconstrained, and does not stick to any established rules. "Because the scenes we shoot are generally very long, each scene is different from another scene. The actor's performance is very free and casual, and there is no need to perform according to precise guidance. "

The actor's performance plays a very important role in this film. It is the actor who guides the development of the plot and the fate of the characters with loyalty and pure emotion. As soon as people see this film, they will immediately enter the emotional world created by it and be attracted by its extreme tension. Kathleen Carthy Gee, an actress who plays Beth's sister-in-law and is also her good friend, said when talking about the cooperation with Trien: "Lars has paternalistic style, but he is a good parent. He wants to liberate his' children' instead of letting them have a subordinate relationship with him. For Lars, the process of filming Breaking the Waves seems to be a process of liberation and freedom. Shooting is hard, but Lars's trust is the best stimulant for us, and his most fundamental wish is to create a safe atmosphere for everyone. Then, he ignored everything and let everyone make movies naturally. For me, this is the only performance experience. "

Emily watson plays the role of Beth, which is a very rare opportunity for an actor who has never experienced a film performance. Trien made many attempts to choose an actor to play Beth. Later, after watching the audition video, he thought the role should be given to emily watson. He was deeply moved by Emily's emotional performance. Emily's performance is very pure and natural.

Trien was a frequent absent participant at the shooting scene. Mortenfield, assistant director, is responsible for site management and execution of the director's instructions. There is almost no conflict in their cooperation, and their cooperation is very tacit. Morton himself has directed many contemporary Danish films, and when Trien stayed in the monitoring room, he was able to take on the task of directing live shooting very freely. Serious religious themes, kind heroes, stories that eventually created miracles after hardships, and naturalistic narratives constitute the basic characteristics of Breaking the Waves. Trien not only inherited but also surpassed Derel's exploration of "European film".