Breaking the Waves and Emotional Editing
Breaking the Waves is the kind of film that elicits strong emotional responses. And as its director Lars von Trier, editor Anders Refn, and location scout Anthony Dod Mantle discuss in this excerpt from our new edition’s scene-specific audio commentary, much of that power and the movie’s ragged, unnerving beauty have to do with its unconventional editing style, which stemmed from Refn and von Trier’s decision to “cut emotionally” rather than follow the usual rules of visual continuity.