Dogville
Amazing that Lars Von Trier has made the exact same movie three times and no one has noticed.
Which film does this describe? A troubled yet innocent and angelic woman tries her best to do right by her family and her small town, but her innocence causes corruption and brings out the worst in everyone around her. This results in her repeated rape/death/etc. and shows the seamy underbelly within quiet repressed societies, and the hypocrisy of those who believe strongly in moral values.
The movie could easily be read as misogynist (and impossible to deny as misanthropic), as the other character’s actions after the first hour seem rather arbitrary and inconsistent, so the woman is to be blamed for tempting them with her naivete, and because she’s a cocktease. The plot twists are calculated and frustrating downers and the conclusion is rife with bitter irony.
Breaking the Waves? Dancer in the Dark? Dogville? Yes.
Dogville is easily the worst of the three and took me 6 attempts before I was able to get through the entire 177 minutes. The movie is condescending, arrogant, and holier than thou. Broken up into 9 chapters (like Breaking the Waves), with each plot development noted on the title cards, and narrated by John Hurt, who repeatedly tells us exactly how we are supposed to feel. The title is a silly joke, the stagy and self conscious style (the entire movie is shot on one set with chalk outlines representing houses, and the actors miming the opening and closing of doors accompanied by sound effects) completely wrong for the shameless melodrama being portrayed, and the actors are simply pawns in the crassly manipulative story.
Weep for that great cast. Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Paul Bettany, Blair Brown, James Caan, Patricia Clarkson, Jeremy Davies, Ben Gazzara, Philip Baker Hall.
