Harvey Roy Greenberg wrote:
 
>For a piece I'm working on about BREAKING THE WAVES.
>lst: I was struck by the frontality of the film.
[snip]
>Relatively few long shots in this film. Does this accord with others'
>experience?
 
 
I felt the constant use of close-ups created a claustrophobic intimacy with
the characters which seemed influenced by a) television aesthetics (heavy
on the close ups; "reality" shows) b) "home-video" strategies (swish pans)
which look startling + "new" on the big screen; maybe they even lend a
certain "authentic" rough look to the piece, mirroring the tumultuous
experiences of the main character.
 
To describe my disatisfaction with the visual strategies concretely, there
was e.g. a minor scene on a cliff where the two main female characters
argue ( the two sailor friends had driven there with them) -- in the scene,
there was no sense of space, how landscape could figure into their argument
etc., just the same medium to close-up framings as in the indoor locations.
 
 
>
>2nd: Need list of associated films where a woman redeems
JOAN OF ARC (various versions), so forth.
 
In an interview with the actress Emily Watson who plays Bess, she states
that von Trier had her watch Dreyer's "Passion of Joan of Arc" and
Fellini's "La Strada".
 
Ines Sommer
 
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