%%
%%
%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Do not uncomment them without expanding them to explain how the tropes apply. A character's name on its own is not context.
%%
%%
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mv5bndywztu2mzktnwyxms00ntyzltgzowetmtriyjc5ngy2nzg1xkeyxkfqcgdeqxvymtqxnzmzndi_v1.jpg]]

''Breaking the Waves'' is a 1996 drama film written and directed by Creator/LarsVonTrier, the first entry of his [[ThematicSeries "Golden Hearts" Trilogy]], and the beginning of a radical change in direction for the famously restless filmmaker.

Set somewhere in the [[UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} Highlands]] in [[TheSeventies the 1970s]], the story concerns Bess [=McNeill=] (Creator/EmilyWatson), a naive, borderline simple young woman, who marries Jan (Creator/StellanSkarsgard), a Danish oil rig worker, despite the disapproval of her stern Church Elders. Bess enjoys a brief period of wedded bliss before Jan has to go back to the rig. After he's crippled in a freak accident, Bess becomes obsessed with saving him, even if it means alienating herself from everyone she's ever known.

Although not a MediaNotes/{{Dogme 95}} film, it makes use of many of the movement's filmmaking principles. von Trier stated that the film's melodramatic plot would have been unbearable without the authenticity and gravity that the minimalist presentation provides.

----
!!Breaking the Tropes:

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler:Bess at the end]]. See BittersweetEnding.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Yes, Bess is dead. But she saved Jan, and few movies end with confirmation of a character ''ascending to Heaven.'']]
* BlackAndWhiteMorality: As it's in the {{Melodrama}} / SoapOpera tradition, the film's morality pits the [[IncorruptiblePurePureness Incorruptibly Pure]] Bess pitted against the [[TheFundamentalist unbending]] [[BlackAndWhiteInsanity absolutism]] of the Church. Dodo, Jan, and Dr. Richardson bring a touch of grey morality, but it's a very light shade thereof.
* BloodstainedDefloration: After their FourthDateMarriage, Bess and Jan have [[WallBangHer sex standing up]] in the bathroom where they've been celebrating their wedding. Blood is shown on Bess's white wedding dress, to contrast with [[spoiler:her decision to become a prostitute after Jan's injury.]]
* BreakTheCutie: Bess. Some have accused Von Trier of psychologically abusing Watson.
* CallBack: The ending of this film is a callback to [[spoiler:''Film/{{Ordet}}''. The hero is revived by God when it seems that he is condemned.]]
* CallingTheOldManOut: Dodo does this to the Church Elders at [[spoiler: Bess' funeral.]] Their response is not shown, though one wouldn't have to guess what it was. [[spoiler: We'll see if they're still laughing once they hear [[DivineIntervention the Bells...]]]]
* ChekhovsGun: The Church Bells, or lack thereof.
* ChildrenAreCruel: The group of kids who throw stones at Bess and call her a "tart."
* CoolOldGuy: A church elder at the wedding, with no lines, gets into a test of manliness with some of Jan's fellow riggers after spotting them chugging and crushing beercans. He matches them with a ''glass of lemonade.''
* CruelMercy:
** Jan seems to think he's doling this out when he tells Bess to sleep with other men, so that she'll experience love after him.
** God provides a far clearer [[spoiler:and more literal]] version when [[spoiler:after Bess's death, He proves His existence to her and helps her on to a next plane of existence.]]
* TheCuckoolanderWasRight: Bess may be "not right in the head", but that ultimately allows her to see to the core of the film's fantastical world.
* DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery: Discussed in the film. Dodo thinks Jan is "sick in the head" for asking Bess to do what she does, but Jan himself seems to think he's letting her go as a mercy. What is beyond dispute is that Jan goes from basically the nicest man alive to a cruel, spiteful bully after his injury.
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Jan tries to after his injury, with almost zero mobility, to "Set [Bess] free", but Dodo stops him in time.]]
* EvilCripple: PlayedForDrama. Jan acts far more cruelly after being paralyzed, but it isn't clear if he's "evil" (as Dodo thinks) or if he's actually trying to do what is best for Bess, in a twisted way.
* TheFundamentalist: Everyone at Bess' Church, though Bess herself is an interesting variation; she believes completely and unquestioningly in the will of God and the legitimacy of the Bible, but differs with the Church Elders about the meaning of the laws.
* GenreBusting: The story is an old-fashioned {{Melodrama}} (though with modern sexual and violent content) shot like a Creator/JohnCassavetes film, with a Victorian Novel-style Chapter format, forays into MedicalDrama and even Crime Drama, ending with [[spoiler: the intervention of God Himself.]] And an hour in there's a wacky {{Montage}} set to a T.Rex song.
* AGlassInTheHand: The old man at the wedding calmly crushes a glass with his bare hand after watching an oil rig worker do the same with a beer can.
* {{God}}: Bess has "Conversations" with Him, she speaking for as if He were talking through her. Whether it really is God speaking through her is never established, though [[spoiler: apparently, He ''really was listening...'']]
* HeartIsAnAwesomePower: The tagline of this movie is "Love is a mighty power"; [[spoiler: only at the end do we realize how literal this statement is.]]
* HolierThanThou: Everyone at the Church but Bess.
* IronicEcho: "You can have me now!"
* {{Jerkass}}: Seeing as it's Lars von Trier, there are a few of these, in this case the Church Elders, much of the townsfolk, even Bess' mother. Dodo and Jan drift towards this at times, but their intentions are good.
* LoveRedeems: Discussed at great length. [[spoiler:Ultimately, it does, but only through Bess's murder.]]
* LighterAndSofter: Relative to the rest of Lars von Trier's filmography. True, it does still have a fair amount of the angst and gloom that defines much of the dour von Trier's oeuvre, especially towards the end, but it's leavened by more humor and exuberance than 90% of his other films. [[spoiler: And it also has [[BittersweetEnding somewhat happier ending]] than most of his movies.]]
* MaleFrontalNudity: Hope you wanted to see Stellan Skarsgard in the buff...
* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Bess is, in a way, a dark subversion of the concept, showing how fundamentally flawed the idea of an eccentric, lovable being who ignores her own goals to help her man really is. The archetypal modern MPDG, Film/{{Amelie}}, was named after Emily Watson.
* MoodWhiplash: A painful moment of Bess in a therapy session with Dr. Richardson smash cuts into a montage that wouldn't be out of place in an 80's comedy (and set to "Hot Love" by T.Rex, no less).
* NiceGuy: Dr. Richardson, a rare character in a Lars von Trier movie. Even after he [[spoiler: [[UnrequitedLove falls in love with Bess]]]] he remains sympathetic, an even rarer occurrence in the notoriously misanthropic filmmaker's work. Jan pre-injury also counts.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Only Bess' mother calls Dodo "Dorothy".
%%* OnlySaneMan: Dodo, at first glance. [[spoiler: Really, Bess.]]
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Emily Watson's Scottish accent is very good, although her vowels are a bit more Welsh than they need to be.
* PlatonicLifePartners: Bess and Dodo. Even when Dodo is rude to Bess, she's actually trying to "save" her from the situation Jan put her in.
* ThePollyanna: Bess remains optimistic in spite of the soul-crushing circumstances she finds herself in. She frequently expresses doubts and fear, but her [[TalkingToThemself conversations with "God"]] lift her spirits.
* ThePowerOfLove: Bess believes that her love has the power to heal and save Jan. Dodo and Dr. Richardson argue against this, to no avail. [[spoiler: In the end, they're wrong, and Bess is right.]]
* RiddleForTheAges: Crossing over with AlternativeCharacterInterpretation, why does Jan give Bess the ultimatum? Some possibilities: Is he telling the truth when he says he wants her to find a new lover to replace him? Is this an attempt to give Bess the love he can't anymore? Was he genuinely getting off on it? Is he trying to [[CorruptTheCutie corrupt]] her, and if so, why? Because he feels he doesn't deserve her? Because her piety makes him dislike her after the cruelty of what's happened to him? Or is he trying to make her hate him or be disgusted by him so that she'll leave him?
* ScarpiaUltimatum: An unusual variation as Bess's crippled husband asks her to have sex with other men and then tell him about it.
* SoapOperaDisease: The exact nature of the brain injury that lays Jan low is never specified.
* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Film/{{Ordet}}'' by Creator/CarlTheodorDreyer. Both of them explore the redemptive power of love and religious faith, represented by their ability to [[spoiler:literally bring someone back from the dead]].
* SurprisinglyHappyEnding: The film as a whole is ''deeply'' soul-crushing. Bess finds love with Jan, who is paralyzed in a horrible accident; he pushes her away from him, [[spoiler:convinces her to have sex with other men even though she doesn't want to]], she faces a great deal of prejudice from her small-minded community, and she's [[spoiler:''horribly murdered'' by one of her clients when she turns to prostitution.]] But then...[[spoiler:God proves His existence to Bess and redeems her.]]
* TalkingToThemself: Bess frequently talks to God and then answers herself in "God's" voice.
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: [[spoiler:Bess, which becomes gradually apparent as she sacrifices more and more for Jan, especially when she becomes a prostitute.]]
* TookALevelInJerkass: Jan after his injury. One of the great mysteries of the film is why he issues a ScarpiaUltimatum to Bess. One slightly more sympathetic interpretation is that, realising that he can never please her sexually again, and, after failing to convince her to take a lover and to commit suicide, he is attempting to use her martyr complex as a means to make her move on from him.
* UnrequitedLove: [[spoiler: Dr. Richardson for Bess.]] He takes it in stride.
----