The famous French writer André Marlault once asserted that the 20th century was either a century of religion or a century of destruction. This statement sounds quite shocking at first, but at least it shows the importance of religion in the life of Western society. Although at the end of the last century Nietzsche made a serious claim that "God is dead", the life and death of God, who roams freely in the vast universe, can be judged by a philosopher living on the earth like a dust in the universe.
Religion has a profound impact on human social life. The debate about the existence of God is almost as old as human history. The debate about this issue in the movie is accompanied by the seventh art. From Karl Dreyer's "The Passion of Joan of Arc" to Ingmar Bergman's "Seventh Seal", from Kieslovsky's "Ten Commandments" to Piara's "Satan's Under the Sun, from Jean Jacques Arnold’s “The Name of the Rose” to Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Temptation of Christ”, almost every Western film master has touched on religious issues, and the subject matter Since the 1980s, film creation has shown an increasingly prosperous trend and has attracted more and more attention.
"Break the Waves" produced by five European countries including Denmark, France, Sweden, the Netherlands and Norway, which has attracted widespread attention in European and American film circles, is another religious film directed by Danish film director Lars von Trier. The film caused a great sensation at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival. Although it did not win the Palme d'Or, it was favored by the jury and film critics and was awarded the jury award. Since then, its influence in the European, American and even international film circles has grown: in 1996, it was awarded the European Best Film Award and the Jury Award by the Felix Film Festival; the 1997 French Caesar Film Award awarded it the best foreign language Film Award, and was nominated for Best Actress in the annual American Golden Globe and Oscar Awards. The "Key Film Dictionary of World Films" published by La Rouss in France in 1997 has only one key film in the world in 1996, and that is "Broken Waves". The famous "Studio" magazine mobilized French film critics and audiences to select ten world film masterpieces over the past ten years, and this film is also among the best. The famous American film critic Rick Malcolm said: "In 1996, none of the films I saw was more thrilling and exciting than "Breaking the Waves." European and American film critics generally believe that if you don't go to the theater to watch this film. , You missed a major event in the film industry in 1996.
"Break the Waves" is Lars von Trier's fifth film. It is a film that makes full use of digital technology to transform the picture to create a romantic and mysterious atmosphere, and makes bold explorations and experiments in film language. Lars von Trier, a director who likes to criticize and censure, used his magical detective film "The Factor of Crime" (1984), especially his works such as "Europa" (1991), which is a metaphor for German political events. He is the most important director in the Danish film world after Karl Dreyer. His works are deeply influenced by the Scandinavian school masters Dreyer and Bergman. In many ways, he inherits and develops the school’s Tradition, especially Dreyer's exploration of the style of "European cinema".
This film tells a passionate, highly infectious, and mysterious story about religion, love and sex. It shows God's observation and judgment of a Scottish society. This is a melodrama with strong emotions: a strong fire of eros is ignited in an arbitrary, suffocating religious atmosphere, and the energetic and therapeutic carnal pleasures are in stark contrast to the church’s clear rules and precepts. The film seems to take people to England in the romantic period of the 19th century, to the super-feeling, shocking, and obscure stories written by the Bronty sisters. The two decisive sources of inspiration that prompted Lars von Trier to create this film were the Danish American Douglas Ske’s melodrama in the 1950s that showed a resurgence, and the other was Dreyer’s film "Ou Erdai, this film also touched on a miracle that happened in a religious group that refused to accept unexplainable things. "Breaking the Waves" preached the Catholic doctrine of sacrificing lives for salvation, but Lars von Trier gathered sin, punishment, and gratitude in a ritual love spell, seeming to tell people that carnal pleasure is equivalent to practice. , His approach has also caused a lot of criticism.
Lars von Trier likes to shoot creatively mature films. "Breaking the Waves" took five years from incubation to completion, but the original idea of this film can be traced back to the author's childhood. Lars von Trier said of the creative process of this film: "I want to make a film that shows kindness. I remember reading a picture album called "Golden Heart" when I was a kid, and it left me with This picture album tells the story of a young girl walking through the forest alone, with only a few pieces of bread in her pocket. After crossing the forest, she found herself naked and nothing. The last sentence of the picture album Yes:'But I can handle it.' This sentence expresses the severe test that any martyr may go through. I have read that picture book many times, even though my father regarded it as the most worthless picture book The story of "Breaking the Waves" must have found the original idea in this book. The protagonist in "Golden Heart" is Beth in the film "Breaking the Waves". I also want to make it into a religious film, one A film about miracles is also a completely naturalistic film."
The content of "Broken Waves" obviously has a strong religious color, which is of course related to the fact that Lars von Trier himself is a religious believer. Lars von Trier’s parents were both staunch atheists, and Lars von Trier himself had a cynical attitude towards religion when he was young. Later, he felt the need to belong to a faithful society and converted to Catholicism. Since then, he has always wanted to make a film that questioned the problems in religion. The process of making this film is also the process of Lars von Trier thinking about religion, and he incorporated his thinking on this issue into the film.
When it comes to religion, one has to talk about God. When it comes to God, the question that has been puzzling for thousands of years is that the question of "whether God exists or not" has been raised almost immediately after the establishment of various religions, and it has puzzled generation after generation. Regarding this question, everyone can give his own answers, but there are two: God exists or God does not exist. Or there is a third one, that is, "believe you will have it, if you don't believe it, you will have nothing." From this perspective, people can be divided into two categories: those who believe in the existence of God and those who do not believe in the existence of God (also include those who doubt the existence of God). Directors who shoot religious films can also be divided into two corresponding categories. Some directors deny or doubt the existence of God, while others firmly believe in the existence of God. Lars von Trier obviously belongs to the latter.
What's interesting is that Lars von Trier said, "I am a Catholic, but I don't appreciate the Catholic doctrine itself." His attitude towards religion is quite similar to that of the early Danish film master Dreyer. Dreyer attacked religion in all the films he made, but never attacked God, as was the case when Lars von Trier wrote "Breaking the Waves". Dreyer's "The Passion of Joan of Arc" and "Day "Trude" definitely had an impact on his creation of "Breaking the Waves". In Breaking the Waves, Lars von Trier does not think about the existence of God, but explores the question of who will ring the bell in heaven. Can the various churches at all levels represent the will of God? Are they the incarnation of God? Do they have the right to conduct moral judgments on their own people?
The metaphor of church bells in the film is profound. When American film critic Sean Rosenham commented on the biopic "A Brief History of Time" by British scientist Stephen Hawking, he said that during the Renaissance, people once compared God to a clock maker and hung it on The bells on the towering church spires are naturally metaphorized as voices from heaven and from God. However, in that remote Scottish mountain village, the self-righteous Presbyterian priests actually blocked the voice. Religious doctrines are often distorted in the interpretations of churches and clergy at all levels. They are either unclear due to their limited ability, or deliberately distorted interpretations due to personal interests.
Lars von Trier has shown the power mechanism and its problems in many films. In Breaking the Waves, he also described religious institutions as a power mechanism, such as the small Scottish society. Lars von Trier did not criticize such an honest society. Instead, it was sympathy and pity for it. Every character in the film is sincere, including Beth's mother and grandfather, members of the Presbyterian Church, and the dedicated pastor. They are extremely loyal to their beliefs. Sadly, they never think about their beliefs. Is it reasonable? Lars von Trier believes that people are often confused by religious issues, and they often understand and treat religious issues in an excessive way. However, if you want to create a melodrama, you must set up certain obstacles. For the creation of "Broken Waves", religious issues are a suitable obstacle.
Most of the films that Lars von Trier has shot in the past are ironic, but people don’t see this feature in "Breaking the Waves." He explained this: "When I was studying at the film school, people often said that all good films have some form of humor, and all films, except for Dreyer’s films. In Dreyer’s In most films, we don’t see traces of humor. We can say that when humor is introduced into a work, people will have a certain sense of distance from the work. In "Broken Waves", I don’t want to stay away from the narrative and the characters The strong emotions." He believes that this strong emotional intervention is very important for the filming of this film. Since Lars von Trier’s strong passion in his growing environment is forbidden, he may only experience and express strong emotions in his artistic creation. His family criticized him after watching this emotionally strong film. One of his uncles who was a documentary film director thought that the film was a complete failure from beginning to end, and his brother who also worked in the film industry thought that The film is boring and meaningless, but this does not prevent them from giving strong support to the filming of this film.
The scene of Beth's dialogue with God in the film is simple and full of tension, adding humanitarian resonance to this religious film. At this point, Lars von Trier also maintains an inheritance relationship with Dreyer, because Dreyer's attitude towards religion is ultimately humanitarian. At the same time, Lars von Trier did this because of the need for film performance, otherwise Beth's psychological activities of communicating and communicating with God would not be better performed. The character Beth is a product of her religion, and she is in conflict with several different power mechanisms, including the power exercised by hospitals and doctors. She is kind in nature and can only stand firm with her loyalty to God, resist all the blows from the world with a strong will and pure heart, and endure the unbearable pain of love.
Although Lars von Trier and Dreyer lived in different times, and despite their different film expression methods, they both poured the same enthusiasm in exploring the style of "Continent Cinema." Contrary to the view that people overemphasize the "visualization" of film art, Delaire believes that film brings an important possibility for innovative artistic expression, which is "abstraction". He once defined the meaning of "abstraction" in an article: "The artist's willingness to stay away from reality in order to highlight the spiritual connotation of the film."
Talking about the characteristics of the film's styling, the picture composition of "Broken Waves" is simple and clear, with fresh and unified colors, especially the landscape pictures connecting the chapters of the story, like classical oil paintings, bringing people to the romanticism of the 19th century. Britain in the period. The location of "Breaking the Waves" was carried out on the island of Skagen in northwest Scotland. The scenery here is unique, with large areas of wasteland and steep rocks, magnificent and beautiful, cold and simple, with a little primitive atmosphere. Lars von Trier said: "At first I wanted to shoot this film on the west coast of Gütland, Denmark. Then I thought about going to Norway, Ireland, and then Ostend in Belgium, and finally I decided to go to Scotland. Filming. Most of the scenes were filmed on Skagen Island. It is definitely not a coincidence. During the Romantic period in Britain, this island was where many painters and writers lived." When shooting the location, the film crew had already taken the sceneries. Processing and transformation, but this is still not enough. Lars von Trier and his creative team used computer methods to process the pictures in post-production, so that the scenery meets the director's artistic ideals to the greatest extent. On the other hand, because the handling method is very clever, it is difficult to see the traces of man-made processing. Judging from the finished film, there are almost no traces of digital processing.
Speaking of using computers to participate in the creation of films, Lars von Trier told people an interesting story: In the process of raising funds for the film, "We got a funding for writing a script. Obtained from the organization of the European Script Foundation. The work of those who review and select the scripts has been seriously criticized. In order to improve their work, the person in charge uses a computer to analyze a dozen scripts sent. They claim The computer can judge the artistic taste and commercial benefits of a film production plan. The script of "Breaking the Waves" scores very high. Its formula may be very good: the story of a sailor and a virgin, the romantic scenery, these factors should be very appreciated by the computer ".
In terms of photographic art, most scenes of the film were shot by the photographer on the shoulder of the camera. The photographer captures the progress of the incident on the spot. It is like a truthful report on an emergency. The documentary style of "Broken Waves" is very obvious. In fact, Lars von Trier has already experimented with complex technical methods when shooting "Europa". When shooting "Breaking Waves", he put forward new challenges to himself in exploring the language of the film. The method of carrying a camera to shoot widescreen movies. The effect of this approach is that it is easy to focus the lens on the actor at all times. At the same time, each lens is different from the previous one. This requires photographers to maximize their flexibility to capture transient impromptu performances of actors, and actors continue to inspire new inspirations in the ever-changing camera angles and scenes. During the performance, even if the actor's lines are different from the script, it doesn't matter. During the shooting, it doesn't matter even if the camera shifts its axis. The mutually exciting and integrated shooting method between the camera movement and the actors puts forward higher requirements on both the photographer and the actors. However, Lars von Trier knows how to mobilize the enthusiasm of various departments, dare to boldly use and guide actors, and finally successfully completed a challenging artistic exploration. Photographer Robbie Murray used to be the old partner of the famous German director Wim Wenders. At first, he was not used to this shooting method, but in the end he overcame many difficulties and successfully completed the exploration of photography.
The use of technology is mainly in the production of scenery. "The shooting skills came from my experience in creating "The Kingdom"," Lars von Trier said. "I almost adopted the same shooting method as that film, because it seemed a bit clichéd. Therefore, I think we should give the film a realistic form as much as possible, a more documentary style. If we shoot "Breaking the Waves" with a certain stylized technique, I think it will not be able to support this story. Usually, people The style of the film was chosen to emphasize the narrative, but our approach was the opposite. We chose the opposite style to the general narrative, eliminating all the possibilities of emphasizing the narrative. What we did was to adopt a style and change the style. Put it in front of the narrative like a color filter. This reminds people of encrypted TV, which must be decrypted to watch the movie on TV. Here we are encrypting the movie and then decoding it by the audience. I give the movie a strong documentary style , In fact, it is the dissolution of and the opposite of the documentary style, which shows that what we accept is the story itself."
The editing of the film is very bold and unrestrained and does not adhere to any established rules. "Because the scenes we shoot are generally very long, each scene is different from the other. The actors perform very freely, very casually, and there is no need to perform according to precise instructions."
The performance of the actors occupies a very important position in this film. It is the actors who guide the development of the plot and the fate of the characters with loyalty and innocent emotions. As soon as people see this film, they will immediately enter the emotional world it creates and are attracted by its extreme tension. Actress Katrine Kartigi, who plays Beth’s sister-in-law and her good friend, said when talking about the collaboration with Lars von Trier: “Lars has a paternalistic style, but he is A good parent who wants his "children" to be liberated, not to let them have an affiliation with him. For Lars, the process of shooting "Breaking the Waves" seems to be a process of liberation and freedom. Shooting Work is very hard, but Lars’s trust is the best stimulant for us. His most fundamental desire is to create a safe atmosphere for everyone. Then, he no longer cares about anything, and It’s about letting everyone take the time to shoot the film. For me, this is the only performance experience."
Emily Watson playing the role of Beth is a rare opportunity for an actor who has never had a movie acting experience. In order to choose an actor to play Beth, Lars von Trier made many attempts. Later, after watching the video of the audition, he thought that the role should be given to Emily Watson. He was loved by Mi Li's emotional performance was deeply moved, and Emily was very innocent and very natural in the performance.
At the shooting scene, Lars von Trier was a participant who was often absent. The assistant director Morton Anlfred is responsible for on-site management and execution of the director's instructions. There is almost no conflict in their cooperation, and the cooperation is very tacit. Morton himself has directed many contemporary Danish films. When Lars von Trier stayed in the monitoring room, he was able to take on the task of directing the shooting on the spot very freely. A serious religious theme, a kind-hearted protagonist, who has gone through hardships and should not be loyal to finally create a miracle story. The naturalistic narrative method constitutes the basic characteristics of "Broken Waves". Lars von Trier both inherited and surpassed Dreyer's exploration of "European cinema".
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