Rating: 4/5
Criterion Challenge 2023 | 19/52 | Faith on Film
But remember, Bess — the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.
Bess asks the church to marry an outsider, someone who works on an oil rig named Jan. Though reluctant, they permit it.
Dodo, Bess’s sister, acknowledges the quickness of it all but expresses happiness for her. Dodo’s toast includes how big Bess’s heart is and how Bess helped Dodo through Dodo’s husband’s death.
Bess regularly goes to church to pray. Bess prays out loud, providing the voice for herself and God, as though God was speaking directly through her. Her God chastises her for wanting, threatening to take away whatever she loves.
Jan must return to the oil rig, which devastates Bess. Bess knew, but she didn’t understand.
Dodo speaks with Jan, making explicit what the film has only hinted at. Bess is a person with mental illness and has had trouble processing absences since her brother’s death.
After an accident on the rig, Jan is seriously injured, but alive. The doctors recommend letting Jan die, as life will be too miserable for him. But Bess insists otherwise.
To Bess, this is how God answered her prayer for Jan’s return — that the answer must carry a heavy cost. She believes it is her fault.
Jan’s condition worsens. Dodo tells Bess to listen to Jan’s wants and to make life bearable for him. His request exceeds what most of us can handle. Bess tries to see it through.
Lars Von Trier did everything he could to reduce the character of Bess to someone so simple that she is capable of any whim his script demands. Emily Watson’s performance rises above to create a complicated and sympathetic human.
Lars Von Trier’s dedication to misery only works every so often. This time works because it answers its questions with a redemptive irony.
Good lord, what an ending!