Breaking the Waves

by Lars Von Trier and Annabeth Albert

Book Overview

A screenplay about religious dogmatism and erotic obsession through which love is endowed with life-giving powers of healing, and miracles can occur. Bess is a young woman raised in a devoutly... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0571191150
• ISBN13: 9780571191154
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Length: 158 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.1" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Brilliant, if you're a film buff

It's Lars Von Trier, need I say more. For someone who loves his work, and this film in particular, reading the script is fantastic. Of course, if you are not into reading movie scripts, this is probably not for you. It's not a book, it's the actual script from the film, with comments from Von Trier included. Film geeks: enjoy!

A great script and more

This is the script, written by the film's Danish director Lars von Trier. A wonderful preface by Swedish film writer Stig Bjorkman, an article by photographer Per Kirkeby, and an introduction by Von Trier. Photos and film info, even the locations list. The story is compelling, obsessional, intensely carnal, heart-breaking, and critical of doctrinaire religion. Von Trier claims that, quite simply, it is a story about "good." He even advances the theory that love -- physical, sexual love -- can heal. Not a welcome notion in Calvinist Northern Scotland (or many other places, for that matter), the setting for the story. It was interesting to see how von Trier's much-touted (by the actors) commitment to improvisation allowed last-minute script changes -- and there were many. The book is beautifully assembled, translated gracefully from the original Danish. It's definitely great.