Ritið : tímarit Hugvísindastofnunar - 01.01.2009, Síða 160

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ABSTRACT
Sexual torment in Breaking the Waves
When Lars von Trier’s Breaking the Waves premiered in 1996, the wretched dest-
iny of the heroine Bess was much debated by film critics. Bess’ selfimposed sexual
penance and violent death was, mainly because of her apparent resurrection at the
end of the movie, compared with the passion of Christ. This article proposes,
instead, to analyse the role of Bess in the light of the sufferings of holy virgins, on
the one hand, and two fairytales by Hans Christian Andersen, “The Little
Mermaid” and “The Wild Swans”, on the other. Bess’ plight is compared to the
passions of God’s holy virgins (Agatha, Agnes, Barbara and Cecilia), but the tra-
gedy and woefulness of Bess’ death seems in stark contrast to these tales. While
traditional fairytales usually teach us that goodness pays, Andersen lets his utterly
good little mermaid die instead of marrying the prince. She indeed acquires an
eternal soul but her death must, nevertheless, be seen as a tragic end, because of
her unfulfilled earthly love. The article argues that Breaking the Waves is in many
aspects reminiscent of Andersen’s fairytales, and that von Trier’s special brand of
tragedy in this film can be seen as an updated (with respect to romantic ideals)
version of Andersen’s fusion of the two generic groups, traditional fairytales and
Christian passions.
Keywords: Lars von Trier, H.C. Andersen, Breaking the Waves, passions, film studies