(Download) "In the Kingdom of Men: Love, Faith and Spirituality in Von Trier's Breaking the Waves (Critical Essay)" by Journal of Religion and Film ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: In the Kingdom of Men: Love, Faith and Spirituality in Von Trier's Breaking the Waves (Critical Essay)
- Author : Journal of Religion and Film
- Release Date : January 01, 2011
- Genre: Religion & Spirituality,Books,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 252 KB
Description
Introduction [1] Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves has raised multiple issues and a considerable amount of controversy since its release in 1996. Not only does the film deal with the highly contested topics of religion and spirituality but its plot continuously eludes a fixed meaning, with characters' intentions in the end remaining as much of a mystery as, for instance, the discourses surrounding the existence of God. Von Trier's film has received a plethora of interpretations ranging from critics who view the story as a modern-day version of scapegoating in the name of religion to others who denounce the film as misogynistic and exploitative of the female figure as a fetishized object undergoing degradation through the representatives of a demanding and isolating patriarchal system. There is even a third interpretation that speaks to the film's difficulty and the ambiguity surrounding the director's aspirations. In his Chicago Reader review, "Mixed Emotions," Jonathan Rosenbaum reacts with a mixture of annoyance and bafflement, stating that although the film seems profound on the surface, this falsity adds to its achievement as "a very clever con-game, a faux-naif masterpiece." (1) I will cover the basic arguments behind the feminist and Christian readings as well as analyzing the potential in Rosenbaum's argument. However, my objective lies in exploring attempting to partly reconstruct von Trier's intentions, even if these amount to a series of contradictions, in creating the figure of Bess and the circumstances which befall her as well as the material the director cites as inspiration for crafting the film in the first place. In many ways, the plot of the film, the often obscure actions of the main characters film, and the plurality and conflict of narrative styles double von Trier's own lack of certainty as to what he wishes to achieve throughout Breaking the Waves. In many ways, one can claim the film is truly experimental at both a formal and psychological level. It is on the one hand, the merging of directorial styles that von Trier appropriates as his legacy as well as extensive pairing of elements that figure as disruptive and incoherent, most notably the Romantic-themed non-narrative sequences in opposition to the jarring documentary style of the narrative sequences. On the other hand, these juxtapositions as well as the seemingly straight-forward "good conquers all in the end" plot pattern endow Breaking the Waves with a certain kitschy quality and irony that prevents the viewer from seriously considering the film as one involved with the theme of internal meditation. (2) In the end, I am left to explain the reasons why this particular film appeals to me despite the lack of coherence one finds in it or precisely because of it. What grabs me is the incertitude that permeates Breaking the Waves, which translates to a sense of heightened vulnerability in dealing with the world and, at least for me, the equivocal concept of meaning and the desire to believe. In this manner, I view von Trier's film not to be so much about religion itself, but the process by which an individual constructs faith and the spiritual in trying to make sense of the events taking place around her and her sensuous way of relating to "God" and other humans.