Set in the Scottish Highlands in the early s, it is about an unusual young woman and the love she has for her husband. The film is divided into seven chapters and an epilogue, separated by audio-visual art by Per Kirkeby and accompanied by music. The film is an international co-production between the US, Denmark, seven other European countries, and is von Trier's first feature film with his Danish production company Zentropa. As von Trier's first film made after his founding of the Dogme 95 movement, it is heavily-influenced by the movement's style and ethos.
It is the first film in Trier's Golden Heart trilogy , which includes The Idiots and Dancer in the Dark , the former made in compliance with the Dogme 95 Manifesto. Breaking the Waves was well-received, with Emily Watson's acting receiving unanimous critical praise and earning her first Academy Award nomination. The movie has been described as "perhaps von Trier's most widely acclaimed film" and cited as among the best films of the s. Bess McNeill is a young and pretty Scottish woman who has, in the past, had treatment for unspecified mental health illness after the death of her brother.
She marries oil rig worker Jan Nyman, a Danish non-churchgoer , despite disapproval from her community and her Free Scottish Presbyterian Calvinist church. Bess is steadfast and pure of heart but quite simple and childlike in her beliefs. During her frequent visits to the church, she prays to God and carries on conversations with him in her own voice, believing that he is responding directly through her.
Bess is infatuated with Jan and has difficulty living without him when he is away on the oil platform. Jan makes occasional phone calls to Bess, in which they express their love and sexual desires.
Bess grows needy and prays for his immediate return. The next day, Jan is severely injured in an industrial accident and is flown back to the mainland. Bess believes her prayer was the reason the accident occurred and that God was punishing her for her selfishness in asking him to neglect his job and return to her. No longer able to perform sexually and mentally affected by the paralysis, Jan asks Bess to find a lover.
