***WARNING*** This review may contain plot spoilers
It's probably a case of one man's food being another man's poison, but there was a distinct part in the film where I felt my all my interest and involvement in it completely snapping off, where I thought, despite its concerted attempt to be a palpably credible, sensitive emotional document, it came across as a shallow and exploitative piece. Unfortunately this was the main turning point of the film's narrative. This offbeat character drama is divided into several titled chapters based on what the director feels is the dominating event/theme of the chapter. The plot centers on Bess (Emily Watson), a girl who comes of a suffocatingly closed and ascetic coastal community that frowns upon all worldly attachments including mundane emotional ties, believing in complete surrender to a stern uncompromising God. Bess is intensely high-strung and child-like, the product of innate psychological disorder and an abnormally religious upbringing where being 'good' in the eyes of God is the sole raison d'être. She is shown indulging in regular conversation with divinity where she supplies voices for herself and 'God'. Life takes a significant turn when she marries Jan (Stellan Skarsgard, unrecognizable from his turn as the persecuted conductor in Szabo's 'Taking Sides' which I have talked about previously), an off-shore oil-rig worker and ardent young husband. Bess believes the fruits of marital pleasure to be God's reward for her being 'good' and even sighs thanks to the Lord in her moment of carnal bliss. She is intensely attached to Jan's physical presence and grows alarmingly distraught when he leaves for his extended work schedules on the oilrig. Bess fervently prays to her God to send Jan back early. Jan does arrive early.but as the victim of a terrible accident that has left him almost completely paralyzed from neck down. Bess is stricken with sorrow and consuming guilt and watches obsessively over Jan. Jan, on the other hand, is caught up with the idea that without going through the act of making love to Bess, he will surely die. He wants Bess to sleep with other people and relate her experience as a means of reliving their passionate marital life. And this is where the film lost me. It's not because the idea came as a shocking surprise because I'd heard about the film's premise. It's not because the film dips into pornography; no, every effort is taken to maintain a realistic, non-titillating, even sordid touch in the scenes of Bess's misguided promiscuity. It's just that the entire idea seems to me presented in such a pat manner as to suggest that everything in the film up to that point was just filled in to reach that turn. Nothing in Jan's character till then indicates that he would have any such predilection and even the vague references as to how his injures and prolonged exposure to medicinal drugs would affect his mind seem very ham-handed. From the turn the narrative took from this point on, despite what goodness the film may have possessed in terms of specific acting and directorial touches, I could not shake off the idea of it being a cheesy melodramatic and ultimately exploitative flick. That's just my opinion and I respect the view of those who would disagree on this issue Trier aims to achieve a grainy, off-color documentary style look for his film and it works quite fine although I could have done with less of the jerky hand-held camera movements. Each chapter in the film is heralded by a post-card coastal scene accompanied a track from the classic rock era (My ignorant self could only specifically identify 'Blowing in the Wind', 'Cross-Eyed Mary' and 'Child in Time', I'm sure others would do better). The film's leading light Emily Watson does a sincere and often affecting turn as Bess, bringing across the pathological devotion to her husband, which leads her to acts of perversion and ultimate tragedy. I wish the film had been more fully deserving of her efforts.
It's probably a case of one man's food being another man's poison, but there was a distinct part in the film where I felt my all my interest and involvement in it completely snapping off, where I thought, despite its concerted attempt to be a palpably credible, sensitive emotional document, it came across as a shallow and exploitative piece. Unfortunately this was the main turning point of the film's narrative. This offbeat character drama is divided into several titled chapters based on what the director feels is the dominating event/theme of the chapter. The plot centers on Bess (Emily Watson), a girl who comes of a suffocatingly closed and ascetic coastal community that frowns upon all worldly attachments including mundane emotional ties, believing in complete surrender to a stern uncompromising God. Bess is intensely high-strung and child-like, the product of innate psychological disorder and an abnormally religious upbringing where being 'good' in the eyes of God is the sole raison d'être. She is shown indulging in regular conversation with divinity where she supplies voices for herself and 'God'. Life takes a significant turn when she marries Jan (Stellan Skarsgard, unrecognizable from his turn as the persecuted conductor in Szabo's 'Taking Sides' which I have talked about previously), an off-shore oil-rig worker and ardent young husband. Bess believes the fruits of marital pleasure to be God's reward for her being 'good' and even sighs thanks to the Lord in her moment of carnal bliss. She is intensely attached to Jan's physical presence and grows alarmingly distraught when he leaves for his extended work schedules on the oilrig. Bess fervently prays to her God to send Jan back early. Jan does arrive early.but as the victim of a terrible accident that has left him almost completely paralyzed from neck down. Bess is stricken with sorrow and consuming guilt and watches obsessively over Jan. Jan, on the other hand, is caught up with the idea that without going through the act of making love to Bess, he will surely die. He wants Bess to sleep with other people and relate her experience as a means of reliving their passionate marital life. And this is where the film lost me. It's not because the idea came as a shocking surprise because I'd heard about the film's premise. It's not because the film dips into pornography; no, every effort is taken to maintain a realistic, non-titillating, even sordid touch in the scenes of Bess's misguided promiscuity. It's just that the entire idea seems to me presented in such a pat manner as to suggest that everything in the film up to that point was just filled in to reach that turn. Nothing in Jan's character till then indicates that he would have any such predilection and even the vague references as to how his injures and prolonged exposure to medicinal drugs would affect his mind seem very ham-handed. From the turn the narrative took from this point on, despite what goodness the film may have possessed in terms of specific acting and directorial touches, I could not shake off the idea of it being a cheesy melodramatic and ultimately exploitative flick. That's just my opinion and I respect the view of those who would disagree on this issue Trier aims to achieve a grainy, off-color documentary style look for his film and it works quite fine although I could have done with less of the jerky hand-held camera movements. Each chapter in the film is heralded by a post-card coastal scene accompanied a track from the classic rock era (My ignorant self could only specifically identify 'Blowing in the Wind', 'Cross-Eyed Mary' and 'Child in Time', I'm sure others would do better). The film's leading light Emily Watson does a sincere and often affecting turn as Bess, bringing across the pathological devotion to her husband, which leads her to acts of perversion and ultimate tragedy. I wish the film had been more fully deserving of her efforts.