MovieChat Forums > Breaking the Waves (1996) Discussion > Any thoughts on the time period?

Any thoughts on the time period?

posted 12 years ago by madchen00
8 replies | jump to latest

I don't think we are ever given a clue as to what decade this film was supposed to portray but I think it must have been the late 60s or early 70s. The music is a big clue, as well as that fantastic coat Jan wears, and the women's hair styles. But also all of the medical equipment is very, very outdated.

I wondered at first if it were just the fact that Lars von Trier films have low budgets so he could only get his hands on really old equipment. But then I considered the other clues and wondered if this were a period film.

Does anyone know? or have an opinion?

[–] iamtaylorb 12 years ago

This is a pretty late response but we are watching this movie in one of my film classes. The professor told us it was set in the 70's.
As for the medical equipment, I would guess that was done on purpose. The film is set in rural Scotland where things are still kind of old fashioned, namely church was still an important role in peoples lives. So the outdated medical equipment could either show that it is a poor community that cannot afford a fancy hospital or top of the line tools, or that the town is so backwards that they don't care enough to buy such things.

[–] AzaleaRose 11 years ago

I heard 70s too. Although it does give off the atmosphere that the village hit Nineteen Fifty Something or Other and decided to just stop.

[–] Ambiance35 10 years ago

Jan's blue estate car (a Triumph?) was a "J" registration which was released from 1st August 1971 & I also heard David Bowie's "Life on Mars" on the film soundtrack & that was released in 1973-Hope this (may) help!

[–] Doodlebuger 10 years ago

Based on the oil industry practices shown, this was indeed the early 70's. People climbing in chopper in sheepskin ? Was very early on in the game. Jackup rig was also very early. Plus one guy says they had struck gas (ie Southern North Sea) and oil is further North. Forties field discovered in 1971 or so.
Not sure the chopper is vintage though, looks a tad too modern to me.

[–] Degree7 9 years ago

I believe it's set in 1973.

~ I've been very lonely in my isolated tower of indecipherable speech.

[–] pfr_77 9 years ago

I thought it was "modern day" until I googled the film and saw "early 1970s" on the wikipedia article. Really, I would have had no idea it was supposed to be then. For me, anything that could be pointed to as the period could just as easily be explained away by anything else.

That does explain the music, though.

[–] ThreeSadTigers 9 years ago

For me, anything that could be pointed to as the period could just as easily be explained away by anything else.

Really? The fact that all the music in the film is specific to an exact period in the early to mid 1970s, combined with the clothes, the hairstyles, the vehicles and production design, didn't give you a big enough hint?

[–] pfr_77 9 years ago

Not really... I mean, iirc it mostly takes place in a small town, sort of slightly rural area, and places like that get pretty easily stuck in the past. My mom's family lived a-ways outside of a major city in Alabama in the US when I was a kid in the 90s and that was very much the case. I'm pretty sure my grandparents had the same TV set from like 1975 until 1999. I guess time and cultures are just one big cluster *beep* to me

as for the music, I mean, *beep* I guess I just figured LVT liked classic rock or it was part of the vibe he was going for and not necessarily an indicator of setting.