To give these two masterpieces their dues which they more than fully deserve, I decided to make this post.
My first acquaintance with Lars von Trier was his amazing TV series "Kingdom/Riget" and I was hooked from the get go. "Breaking the waves" must be his first full length feature that I saw and my amazement only grew exponentially.
I think the term "relentless" describes this gut wrenching movie perfectly. The drama is pure, heartfelt and enthralling. The lengths to which Bess will go to fullfil Jan's wishes is as shocking as it is moving. The short interludes and use of great songs give the viewers some time to catch their breath before the hammer comes crushing down again.
The way in which von Trier shows every self imposed humiliation and determination is breath taking. I honestly can't find any words to describe how much "Breaking the waves" impressed and continues to impress me. The entire cast is superb but Emily Watson takes the deserved first spot with her wonderful performance as Bess.
Interestingly, had this movie ended up in my top 10 it would have been the 3rd movie (in addition to "Naked" and "Before the rain") to feature the amazing Katrin Cartlidge who unfortunately passed away infinitely way ahead of her time.
Bone chilling, goose bump and tears inducing; this movie has it all and then some. Watch it with a box of tissues and let yourself by carried away by this extremely moving movie!
This movie was my first acquaintance with the visionary film maker Theo Angelopoulis and my god, what an immensely breathtaking first acquaintance it was!
It was once again the Dutch TV channel who gave me the opportunity to see this film, several times actually. It is one of those movies that every time it was broadcasted (3, maybe even 4 times) I simply had to shut down everything else and watch it in complete silence and darkness.
The pace is slow but hypnotizing, the story is simple but very touching and the way in which Angelopoulis breathes life into his vision is pure poetry.
There are people who say Angelopoulis is pretentious, boring and self indulging. But with all 4 of his movies that I have seen so far I have been truly touched and impressed by this man's vision. As he himself has said numerous times, he does not make movies for the masses. If you don't like "Eternity and a day" then you're simply not a huge art house movie lover. Nothing to be ashamed of really.
Yet a real loss for you I'd say. How can you not love the photography? How can you not be mesmerized by the frequent transitions between past and present filled with a human's innermost memories?
Bruno Ganz' performance as Alexander is spellbinding and I've only become to realize in recent years how good this actor really is. I shall find out more of his movies to watch a true artist show me how well an actor's splendid performance can feed the soul.
I rcently found out that a Greek company called New Star has been releasing Angelopoulis' work on DVD under the supervision of the director himself. As such these DVD versions are of the best quality one will find. Additionally, Angelopoulis prefers his movies to be seen by audiences at the cinema so very few of his movies were available on DVD until now. I bought the Greek import version of "Eternity and a day" for $40 and will most likely buy all the other titles New Star has released and will release.
I can't wait to watch the tram riding scene again, even just thinking about it sends goose bumps all over my body. God, how much I love brilliant movies!
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