Critics scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.
out of 100
Metascore®Generally favorable reviewsbased on a weighted average of allcritic review scores.
Not many movies like this get made, because not many filmmakers are so bold, angry and defiant.
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True art is a journey to somewhere you've never been, and there has never been a movie quite like Breaking the Waves.
A movie about the passions of simple people, and it's done with such extraordinary empathy and commitment that it all but pulls you under. [29 November 1996, Friday, p.A]
Shallow where it would be meaningful, demanding leaps of faith it has not earned, this film's marriage of arresting technique to empty thinking is not unique, only frustrating.
The longer the movie drones on, the queasier it gets. [6 June 1997, Life, p.3D]
If not for a somewhat forced catharsis during the epilogue (the weakest segment of the movie), Breaking the Waves would have been more wrenching than it is.
Watson is a major find as Bess. Graced with delicate, expressive features, she gives an extraordinary performance.
A narrative path leading from the sincere to the ludicrous, and culminating in a final image of flabbergasting transcendance, gives Breaking the Waves its surprising power.
See all Breaking the Waves reviews at Metacritic.com
by Brig NorwayFrance