1 of 5

Dogville Our rating: Your rating:   MPAA rating: R (for violence and sexual content) Theater release: March 26, 2004 by Lions Gate Films Directed by: Lars von Trier Runtime: 2 hours 57 minutes Cast: Nicole Kidman (Grace), Harriet Andersson (Gloria), Lauren Bacall (Ma Ginger), Paul Bettany (Tom Edison), Chloe Sevigny (Liz Henson), John Hurt (Narrator) Related: Talk About It/Family Corner

Buy this poster

There is an unforgettable scene in Dogville. It is unconventional, risky, unsettling, and it sums up writer/director Lars von Trier's rage against human hard-heartedness. In a wordless moment, the camera, the actors, the stage and the silence offer us a sobering observation. All that comes before it has set the stage for this moment, when the movie makes its chilling revelation.

Like Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan, Dogville tells a simplistic fable of man who takes care of a stranger while others abuse and take advantage of her. Alongside its biblical references, there are echoes of Greek tragedy, Mark Twain, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Flannery O'Connor. With its 1930s Colorado mountain town setting and the pleasant voice of its narrator (John Hurt in a brilliant unseen performance), the film's most obvious allusions are to Thornton Wilder's celebrated play Our Town.

Von Trier is ambitious to place his story in contrast to such essential mythologies. His films have always had an air of self-importance and indulgence. And yet, while his bombastic style would make Beethoven blush, it is hard to deny his visionary talent. With each film, he brings a sledgehammer to filmmaking conventions. Audiences are compelled as much by his innovations as they are by his willingness to wrestle difficult questions, no matter who gets hurt. Dogville, while not his most original story, becomes the first feature in which the ideas he presents make worthwhile the ordeal of sitting through it.

Nicole Kidman as Grace

Again, von Trier has chosen a brilliant cast, led by Nicole Kidman. In Breaking the Waves, Emily Watson had the role that made her an international star. Bjork deserved the awards she won for her uncannily heartfelt performance in Dancer in the Dark. Kidman's work, while not as complex, is memorable as well.

She plays Grace Mulligan, a beautiful fugitive sneaking up Dogville's mountain to escape gun-wielding gangsters. She doesn't get far. Moses the vigilant watchdog reveals her to the local philosopher, Tom Edison (Master and Commander's Paul Bettany).

Already you have noticed the "loaded" character names—Grace, Moses, Tom Edison. Abandoning the realism of his previous morality plays, von Trier makes these characters mere sketches, types that lend themselves readily to metaphor. The farmer represents hard-working folk. The truck driver, industry. The shopkeeper, capitalism.

Sensing her innocence, Tom takes Grace into his care. But it's not just charity. Tom wants to teach his town a lesson. "I've got nothing to offer them," Grace protests. He disagrees: "No, I think you've got plenty to offer Dogville." Upon a second viewing of the film, that line becomes positively chilling.

Dogville seems a fine community at first glance—"Reserved but friendly, not without curiosity," says the narrator. But you can't trust this narrator. Von Trier, like David Lynch, zooms past the quaint exterior to reveal the evil at work behind closed doors. Dogville's insular community is populated with self-protective liars who behave with contempt and defensiveness when strangers come to town. Tom sees Grace's arrival as an opportunity to expose the selfishness of the townsfolk.

Chloe Sevigny as Liz Henson

After Tom talks the town into giving Grace a chance, nobody seems to need her help with anything. She cannot find work. But she presses on, and soon finds a crack in Dogville's cold façade. First, Ma Ginger (Lauren Bacall) lets her tend gooseberry bushes outside the general store, and eventually she's invited into each home to serve some small purpose. She visits the local beauty (Chloë Sevigny), the sullen hard-working farmer (Stellan Skarsgård), the farmer's wife (Patricia Clarkson), and Tom's hypochondriac father (Phillip Baker Hall.) Like Amelie, Grace even becomes the eyes of the local blind man (Ben Gazarra, in the film's most riveting performance).

That's when things get nasty and the dark side of human nature rears its ugly head. One by one, the people begin to exploit Grace's generosity. Viewers are sure to become quite uncomfortable with the extremes to which Grace must go to appease their baser appetites and keep her hiding place secret.

next page... |  1 of 5 | last page