MovieChat Forums > Breaking the Waves (1996) Discussion > An Absolute Nihilistic Garbage

An Absolute Nihilistic Garbage

posted 18 years ago by inbar_sh
66 replies | jump to latest

I saw Two and a Half films of 'Von' Trier: 'Breaking the waves'' Dogville' and Most of 'Dancing in the dark' and I felt the same about them all. an Awful Moviemaking. It Combines Sick mind, Immature Characters, Rediculus Plots and above all, Preverted and Mean point of view about the world and the Human nature, Superficial and disrespectful attitude about Religion and Angloamerican culture ,Uglyness , cheap Photography and Production.
I would not bother to comment on those films, but The sad fact that Trier is so Highly appriciated and so much (Over) Rated I feel that I must put my Unpopular view on the table and say : This king is naked. There is absolutely nothing there.
I will try to make a short Comparison Between Trier and David Lynch Who is in my opinion, a Great ,Unic and Underrated filmmaker. some people found similarity between him and Von Trier. In Lynch films there are so many beautiful and pure things like a perfect Aesthetics, Sadness and yearning to a lost and innocent world. The Evil in Lynch films is always balanced with a Good and Humane behavior. The good is always within reach. Although There is some similarity between them, especially in repersenting Females as Tragic victims in most of Lynch and Trier films The difference in both Artistic and Moral point of views is Huge.

Inbar Sh,
Israel

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] annamears69 17 years ago

does the guy that started this thread actually understand what nihilistic means? breaking the waves is not a perfect film; it would at least have to lose the stupid bells at the end for that (stick to your rules lars!) but there is no way it could be called nihilistic.

[–] pellaphanten 17 years ago

What rules should he stick to? this it not a dogme film.

It's a masterpiece and probably his best movie so far...

[–] razedown 17 years ago

Was Lars not bound by a movement he found in the first place? I agree with the other post though; it's not nihilistic but in fact posits the existential relevance of Bess' death to people around her.

[–] eolson22 17 years ago

To use a dictionary definition, nihilism in philosophy is "a form of extreme skepticism, especially with regard to value statements or moral judgments."

Elaborating this, it is the view that values are arbitrary, and can't be grounded in reality, so an art formed on this basis shows no real difference between good and evil, reason and insanity, action and inaction.

Nihilism is not identical to saying that evil is stronger or more worthy of consideration, or that good and evil are opposed in some other way - instead it says you can't know or take sides. In artistic expression, it mocks both.

If you're going to try to drive this wedge between von Trier and Lynch, I think you must end up crying special pleading. If it applies to one, I don't see how the other escapes it.

On the topic of von Trier, I'm still forming an opinion.

Looking at the characters in Breaking the Waves, I see several issues that are common in Trier's films. First, nobody escapes the human condition, and the human condition is folly. Bess feels that music tells her there is a life outside the strictures of her community, so she dares to love. But this creates a conflict in her, and the irrational side quickly wins. Jan observes the signs and doesn't seem alarmed. In fact I don't see why his character is motivated to love her at all; he is either poorly written, or also lives a kind of dumb folly.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] taroks8133 16 years ago

I don't see any grounds for comparison with Lynch other than they are both directors. I do think Lynch is more original and artistic. I'll agree that Von Trier is overrated, but Breaking The Waves was an amazing movie that moved me tremendously. Dancer in the Dark failed to do that, perhaps because it tried too hard to manipulate me and wasn't at all believable. With each ensuing film it became clear that Lars knows nothing about his subject, ending with the laughable script for "Dear Wendy". Some non-American directors can capture America perfectly, like Wim Wenders or Lasse Halstrom, but Lars's films don't even come close, therefore is a credibility problem. Perhaps that's why 'Wasington' is on the back burner.

[–] regisgood 16 years ago

Is yoUr cAps LocK broKen?

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] robhumanick 16 years ago

Thanks you for that Lesson. Do you Pronounce certain words More than others in regular Conversation, so that People know what the Main Points of your Argument are? Let me go further in examining this passage:

In Lynch films there are so many beautiful and pure things like a perfect Aesthetics, Sadness and yearning to a lost and innocent world. The Evil in Lynch films is always balanced with a Good and Humane behavior. The good is always within reach. Although There is some similarity between them, especially in repersenting Females as Tragic victims in most of Lynch and Trier films The difference in both Artistic and Moral point of views is Huge.

I'm not sure if you've saw Inland Empire at the time of this post, but the very idea of labeling any aesthetic "perfect" - let alone a film by Lynch, who is notorious for his use of "ugly" art - is impossibly relative (how is it perfect? why? there's nothing descriptive there) and somewhat anti-art. Furthermore, though your next few sentences get at something, all you'd have to do is switch "Lynch" with "Von Trier" (and vice versa) and you have the same argument intact. What difference? Bess stands in contrast to her surroundings because of her innate and unwavering goodness, her innocence and naivety the ultimate tool against a cold and unforgiving world, hence her ascension even when the religious leaders condemn her to hell. I will agree that Von Trier's films are more critical in their assertions about human behavior - hell, Dogville is about the most blistering diatribe on America ever put on film - but I fail to see how that intrinsically makes it illegitimate or "wrong". If there are buttons being pushed, then, whether for good or bad reasons, it should be examined why those reactions are as they are. If you have in fact done that, share it with us.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/author-12145/

[–] Info-1367 11 years ago

"hell, Dogville is about the most blistering diatribe on America ever put on film"

Granted, the end titles Bowie song "Young American" and the images of real down and out Americans, not just of the Depression era but modern times as well, makes it more explicitely an indictment of America, but whilst watching the story itself unfold, I actually saw Dogville as having happened to be set in America. I honestly think it speaks to a mentality could exist in any small town in any country in the world at any time in the history of humanity. Change the specifics-- change the mafia father to a warlord of Japan in Shogun times, perhaps, and the behaviour of the townspeople might be the same, in a different language.

[–] tim-baines 16 years ago

DO YOU HAVE TO USE CAPITALS FOR EVERY LETTER. WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU WENT WRONG IN SCHOOL?