Stellan Skarsgard and Emily Watson in Breaking the WavesImage via October Films
By
Thomas Butt
Published 1 minute ago
Thomas Butt is a senior writer. An avid film connoisseur, Thomas actively logs his film consumption on Letterboxd and vows to connect with many more cinephiles through the platform. He is immensely passionate about the work of Martin Scorsese, John Ford, and Albert Brooks. His work can be read on Collider and Taste of Cinema. He also writes for his own blog, The Empty Theater, on Substack. He is also a big fan of courtroom dramas and DVD commentary tracks. For Thomas, movie theaters are a second home. A native of Wakefield, MA, he is often found scrolling through the scheduled programming on Turner Classic Movies and making more room for his physical media collection. Thomas habitually increases his watchlist and jumps down a YouTube rabbit hole of archived interviews with directors and actors. He is inspired to write about film to uphold the medium's artistic value and to express his undying love for the art form. Thomas looks to cinema as an outlet to better understand the world, human emotions, and himself.
Sign in to your Collider account
Add Us On
Summary
Generate a summary of this story
follow
Follow
followed
Followed
Like
Like
Thread
Log in
Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents:
Try something different:
Show me the facts
Explain it like I’m 5
Give me a lighthearted recap
Stellan Skarsgård looks to be a strong contender to win Best Supporting Actor at this year's Academy Awards for his icy but infectiously soulful performance in Sentimental Value. However, Skarsgård's Oscar would not just be a recognition of his work in Joachim Trier's drama about a dysfunctional showbiz family, but it would also be a way to celebrate an actor who's been nothing but extraordinary for over 30 years in Hollywood and arthouse cinema overseas. In America, Skarsgård, who has spawned a new generation of actors with Bill and Alexander Skarsgård, is best known for being a reliable, sturdy character actor who will lend gravitas to The Avengers and Andor and steal the show in star-driven auteur films like Good Will Hunting and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Before making his name in Hollywood, Skarsgård was one of Sweden's most gifted performers, and nowhere were his remarkable acting chops better utilized than in the multinational tragic drama, Breaking the Waves, Lars von Trier's film that represented the peak of a maverick cinematic movement.
Stellan Skarsgård Embodies Twisted Love in 'Breaking the Waves'
With movies getting increasingly more bloated and studio-controlled, a handful of Danish visionary filmmakers, including Thomas Vinterberg and Lars von Trier, agreed to only produce stories under the guiding principles of Dogme 95. This manifesto laid the groundwork for their cinematic language, marked by minimalist settings, natural lighting, and handheld cameras. This anti-studio style of filmmaking is most evident in Vinterberg's The Celebration, which looks like a home movie. Under this doctrine, films can explore the darkest crevices of the soul, as von Trier did with intimate and blazing fury in his breakout film, Breaking the Waves.
Starring Emily Watson and Stellan Skarsgård as a couple experiencing not your ordinary marital fight, Breaking the Waves follows Jan (Skarsgård), an oil driller who is paralyzed in a work accident, and is taken care of by his wife, Bess (Watson). Following the accident, which leaves Jan bedridden after breaking his neck, Bess suffers from extreme guilt, even though she had prayed for his return to safety before the injury. Making up for their lack of a sexual relationship, Jan urges Bess to pursue deviancy while still remaining faithful to him. The 1996 intense psychological drama was widely beloved, winning the jury prize at Cannes and earning enough recognition in the States to earn Watson an Oscar nomination.
Stellan Skarsgård's Emotionally Dynamic Performance Best Captures Lars von Trier's Vision
While Watson justifiably received all the adoration, Skarsgård's performance is nothing to sleep on, which is still easy to do because of his effortlessness as an actor. As Jan, the oil-rig worker trying to make the best out of tragic circumstances, Skarsgård plays the role with unexpected sensitivity. As seen in Sentimental Value, where he plays a celebrated filmmaker and absent father attempting to rekindle his relationship with his daughters, his domineering presence quickly makes way for his aching vulnerability. Skarsgård inhabits the pain and longing of someone trapped in a confined space powerfully, and it serves as the punishing heartbeat of the film. Known for his provocative character studies about endless tragedy, notably Dancer in the Dark and Dogville, von Trier's filmography doesn't take it easy on viewers, but Skarsgård's exists to lend needed humanity to dire situations.
Emily Watson, giving a revelatory and spellbinding performance in Breaking the Waves, embodies von Trier's recurring themes of sexual perversion, female martyrdom, and religious guilt—thorny ideas that lead to the critical divisiveness of his work. On the flip side, Skarsgård, who would become a frequent collaborator of von Trier's, is unshowy and seamlessly grounded with his performance, which in turn clarifies the director's wrestling with morality. The lines between right and wrong slowly erode throughout the film, in large part due to Jan's dual status as a manipulator and the manipulated. Jan and Bess' love borders on the realm of sadism, but their affection appears to be genuine. Thanks to its grainy handheld photography, shot by legendary cinematographer Robby Müller, you feel like you're watching a drawn-out and incredibly strange dynamic between a marriage. You can't always understand their motivations, but you can sympathize with their existential dread.
It's no surprise that Stellan Skarsgård has remained a prominent mainstay in Hollywood and international cinema, as his undeniable presence makes him an easy casting decision for any heavy, imposing force or prodigious familial figure. Even in villainous or authority parts, Skarsgård always manages to unlock newfound emotionality and grace in these challenging performances. In Breaking the Waves, the presumably soon-to-be Oscar nominee makes the illicit act of infidelity seem like a gift from a god.
Breaking the Waves is available to stream on Mubi in the U.S.
Breaking the Waves
Like R Drama Romance Release Date November 13, 1996 Runtime 158 Minutes Director Lars von Trier Writers Lars von TrierCast
See All-
Emily Watson
Bess McNeill
-
Stellan Skarsgård
Jan Nyman
Expand
Collapse
-
Stellan Skarsgård
What To Watch
July 20, 2025
The 72 Best Movies on Netflix Right Now
Trending Now
Alexander Skarsgård Is Officially Joining an Exciting New Gothic Horror
The 10 Greatest Quotes in Pixar Movies, Ranked
Miles Teller’s Tragic Year Is Ending in a Much Better Place
