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Dogville Director: Lars Von Trier Rated: MA Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas With films like 'Breaking The Waves', 'The Idiots' and 'Dancer In The Dark' to his credit, Danish director Lars Von Trier can be relied upon to deliver extraordinary, inventive and controversial films. His 'Dogme 95' manifesto to make films without musical scores, props or even a tri-pod left some film critics and audiences exasperated. These self-imposed rules are discarded here however, and in his first American film, Von Trier's script revels in the services of fine actors including Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Paul Bettany and James Caan. Grace (Kidman) arrives in depression-era Dogville, apparently pursued by "the Mob". The fifteen adult inhabitants of the town vote to shelter her in return for her working part-time for each of them. Overseen by the palpable presence of God, lust and greed flourish among the townsfolk and evil is brought to bear on the angelic, perhaps messianic presence of Grace. Her vulnerability is shamefully exploited. Using a set where the streets and buildings of the town are represented only by outlines on the floor, the theatricality of this production gives way to a surprisingly cinematic presentation of sustained acting performances from the ensemble of iconic faces. Kidman's adventurous career choice in taking this powerful and challenging part reinforces the claim she makes in films like 'Eyes Wide Shut' to be more than just the pretty face she was in 'Moulin Rouge'. Here, she is as luminous in filling the barren setting as Von Trier regular Stellan Skarsgard is creepy. Bettany's character, Tom Edison, resonates with American literary figures Tom Paine and Tom Sawyer as well as with founding-father types, Thomases Edison and Jefferson. He plays the feeble-minded, pontificating philosopher well. Those who lambasted Von Trier for setting 'Dancer In The Dark' in an America he'd never even visited, seem to have stirred modern cinema's most precocious writer-director into a formidable response. Invoking the strains of the song, America The Beautiful ("God shed His grace on thee" - the pun clearly intended), 'Dogville' is as brilliantly incisive and metaphorical as a Samuel Beckett or Arthur Miller play. He is clearly taking a swipe at what he sees as hypocritical American vanity and values, past and present. This is as grandly troubling and redemptive a story as cinema has given us and surely Nicole Kidman's best performance so far, 'The Hours' notwithstanding. |
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