[An] earnest, yet harrowing, heartbreaker...

| Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 4, 2023

Von Trier’s patent insincerity and facetiousness could be read as a satire on movie emotionalism, or as its own kind of conceptual art. Either way, it’s quite an experience.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 4, 2023

There are few movies around that take such huge risks: this is high-wire filmmaking, without a net of irony.

| Feb 26, 2018

It's a testament to Emily Watson's astounding performance as Bess that she comes across as more than a von Trier construct; she's a woman of boundless passion, who follows her faith wherever it takes her.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Apr 15, 2014

Von Trier has forged a myth of modern romantic faith that could haunt almost anyone into believing.

| Original Score: A | Sep 7, 2011

The performance from newcomer Emily Watson is the centerpiece of this spiritual journey.

Full Review | Mar 26, 2009

It's a remarkable achievement for all concerned, with Katrin Cartlidge, as Bess's widowed sister-in-law, sharing the acting laurels with the radiant Emily Watson, and writer/director Lars von Trier building the emotional and dramatic intensity ...

| Jun 24, 2006

This almost three-hour saga, set in a Scottish coastal town in the 1970s, makes an exuberant, but ultimately empty pass at all the available art-film conceits, including mysticism, religion and downright bawdiness.

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Jan 22, 2002

Watson’s luminous portrayal goes straight to the heart.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | May 12, 2001

For although its glum and grueling affect will be a comfort to those who want to believe that misery is the handmaiden of art, “Breaking the Waves” stands revealed at its conclusion as trite and even juvenile...

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Feb 14, 2001

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 1, 2000

As frustrating as it is rewarding, this makes compulsive viewing nonetheless.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 1, 2000

Watson is the engine that pulls the entire film with her risky, emotionally naked acting.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 1, 2000

Von Trier counters that rigidity with near-lunatic flourishes that prove hugely effective, if only because they burst redemptively into the film with sudden flashes of pop vitality.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jan 1, 2000

Breaking the Waves is emotionally and spiritually challenging, hammering at conventional morality with the belief that God not only sees all, but understands a great deal more than we give Him credit for.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jan 1, 2000

Watson's Bess is an unforgettable character -- simple, profound, heartbreaking, tragic and yet triumphant.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jan 1, 2000