MovieChat Forums > Breaking the Waves (1996) Discussion > The message/idea behind this movie

The message/idea behind this movie

posted 10 years ago by LuxuryJesper
7 replies | jump to latest

As far as I can see, there are two ways to interpret this movie;

- God doesn't exist, and Bess is crazy

- there is a God, and he is evil

If it's the first interpretation and Bess is crazy, then it's probably due to her religious faith, and the impact of which this has made on her. Probably a whole childhood filled with religion all around, going to church every sunday, praying all the time etc. Also the belief in God, that God (in her mind) is responsible for everything, and is either punishing/rewarding her for her actions, all the time.

If it's the second part and there is a God, then he must be truly evil. Everything Bess does, is out of love and devotion for her husband. But, if you want a wish to come true, then there will be accompanying consequences, no matter how good of a person you are. For instance, Bess prays for Jan to return home, and he does, but it's due to an accident. Another example is that she wants Jan to recover more and more, which actually happens. But the consequence is that she has to sleep with various men, which also ends with her being outcast. Also, it is not until her death, that Jan is starting to walk again. Her sacrifice led to his "resurrection".

But, both of these two interpretations gives the same message: stay far away from religion/christianity.

Do you agree with me?

All these voices in my head, and not a single one I understand.

[–] EmilMintyAsTheFeralKid 10 years ago

I want to agree with you but the voices in my head told me not to.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] MaxRenn2 10 years ago

I believe he's separating belief in God from religion (at least the sect to which Bess belongs), which he paints as a stultifying institution. To me, when Bess says "It's all wrong" as she dies, it means that all the assumptions she'd been told about God through her church were wrong. I was surprised to learn after the film that von Trier is religious himself, at least in some way. While he does hate on religion some, the movie is more just a depiction of self-sacrifice. I actually believe it goes a bit too far in the final scene, which is a little gratuitous in actually showing the bells (despite being a very touching scene). I'm an agnostic, and think this movie is perfect for agnostics, but this scene is a bit too "concrete." Perhaps I'm just reacting to my previous assumptions about von Trier. I've been dancing around his films for years and never actually sat down to watch them, but now I am. I had thought of him as some straight-up atheist, but it appears he has more faith than I had anticipated.

[–] Trippetta10 9 years ago

I think even an atheist watching this film could appreciate the irony of how "sinful" Bess embodies Christian principles far more than the self-righteous churchmen and women.

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In heaven everything is fine.

[–] zinabaggins 7 years ago

That's what I was thinking throughout the entire movie. Bess is practically Jesus, she died/was sacrificed to save another. The "Christians" depicted in the film were so far from anything christian.

[–] justbobkc 9 years ago

Why do bad things happen to good people?

C.S. Lewis wrote an interesting book on the subject from the Christian apologetics tradition called "The Problem of Pain."

Those "Christian" villagers presented in this movie actually embody many core pagan beliefs - superstition and magical control over God - chiefly. There was not a whiff of real Christianity presented by any of them. Really, ANY Christian Minister "condemning" a person to Hell? LOL ignorant. The writers/director should be ashamed of themselves - such a sell-out to modern ignorant secularism, personified by the Dawkins and Hitchens types.

BTW - I was actually raised in the Puritan Church in a small Southern Illinois town. The Church of Christ is the direct modern incarnation of the "Congregationalists"/Puritans of New England.

The folks I grew up where all pretty pleasant actually - even my Mom - who never gave me any grief when I stopped going to that Church when I was 14 or so. But though pleasant it was all boring and not at all intellectually stimulating.

I was agnostic and unchurched (and unlearned) on the depths of Christian philosophy until about age 50 when a very intelligent woman (a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner with a Masters in Nursing from Emory University) got me interested in the intellectualism of real Christianity. We ended up getting married and were practicing Methodists for over 10 years - and are now in the process of becoming Roman Catholics.

The movie is depressing on many levels - but then irrational paganism and fatalism always is.

[–] KennethWasHere 9 years ago

there is a God, and he is evil

You know, LVT's Antichrist actually originated from his wanting to make a movie that explored the thesis that it was Satan, not God, who created the Earth. So this idea actually seems quite congruent with the rest of the worldview expressed in his films.

The bitter thinkers buy their tickets to go find God like a piggy in a fair