'' is a
1996 film, set in the
Scottish Highlands in the
1970s , which tells the story of Bess McNeill, who marries oil-man Jan, despite the apprehensions of her community and
Calvinist church. She is somewhat simple, and has difficulty living without him when he is away on the
Oil Platform . She prays for his return, and when he returns paralysed after an industrial accident, she believes it is her fault. No longer able to make love, Jan urges her to find and have sex with other men, and then tell him the details. She slowly begins to believe that what she is doing is the wish of
God .
The movie was written by
Lars Von Trier ,
Peter Asmussen and
David Pirie (uncredited), and was directed by von Trier. It stars
Emily Watson as Bess, in her first film role, and
Stellan Skarsgård as Jan.
The film shows influences of the
Dogme 95 movement, of which von Trier is a founding member. It is often referred to as a Dogme 95 film, this is a misnomer. It violates several of the Dogme 95 rules. One example, Dogme 95 emphasizes the use of real locations. Most of the locations in ''Breaking the Waves'' are deceptively realistic, but were in fact constructed in a studio.
Breaking the Waves won the "grand prize" at the , and the 1997
British Academy Of Film And Television Arts award for best actress.
