Lars von Trier is a complicated director for so many reasons. Because of that, when you go into his older work you never know what you’re going to get. I was so pleasantly surprised by this film. The writing is phenomenal and although it is extreme and unusual, the love between Bess and Jan is so real. It also feels like the type of novel written by someone of previous times Nathaniel Hawthorne or Mark Twain. The end of the film even feels a bit like THE GIVING TREE. It is interesting how von Trier imbues so much magic in this dark story. Emily Watson gives one of the best performances I’ve ever seen in a film — she is freaking amazing and probably should have won the Oscar that year. It’s crazy to me to see how religious people can act in the late 90s in the way this community is.
