Breaking the Waves
2 hr 39 min
R
1996
romance
drama

Breaking the Waves: 

Bess, a simple, pious newlywed in a tiny Scottish village gives herself up to a shocking form of martyrdom after her husband is paralyzed in an oil rig accident.

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Breaking the Waves

Genres

romance, drama, international

Runtime

2 hr 39 min

Release Year

1996

Rating Information

R

About This Movie

Bess falls madly in love with Jan, an oil-rig worker, and against the wishes of the strict Calvinist elders of her community, she marries this outsider. When Jan returns to the oil-rig, Bess misses him terribly and prays fervently to God to bring him home. Shortly thereafter, Jan is injured in an accident that leaves him paralyzed. Knowing that he will never walk again and devastated that his beautiful, young wife will never make love with him again, Jan misleads Bess by convincing her he can only survive if she takes a lover. Because she is so pure, Bess does what she believes she must in the hope of keeping him alive and soon finds herself in a complicated spiral of love, community and tragedy.

Cast and Crew

Starring: Emily Watson, Stellan Skarsgard, Katrin Cartlidge

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