the latest epos from lars is a blast , although a rather moody one . 
this lovestory is situated in a small town in the rough dreary cliffs in the vestern part of scotland in the 1970 something . 
the church ( calvinistic ) is so strict that the church bells has been removed from the clocktower , they are considered being too unrestrained . 
in these surroundings we find the to-be-weds jan and bess , played by stellan skarsgaard and the remarkable new movie actress emily watson . 
jan is on leave from the oilrig and bess . . 
is just bess , a bit naive and innocent ( in every aspect of the word ) , at first . 
at the wedding party we are told an anecdote , illustrating her infinite kindness , she once lend a bike to an stranger , her best friends bike however . 
but bess is suffering in this scary religious society . 
we soon take part in a funeral where a man , fallen off the orthodox path , is laid to rest while doomed to hell . 
women are not allowed to attend funerals or speak up in the church . 
when the end of the honeymoon approaches we see bess idolizing jan in such an intend , almost manic , that her friends try to calm her down a bit . 
the time has come when jan is to return to the rig , bess is falling into the darkness of depression , her yelling of grief and sorrow are heard above the breaking of the waves . 
she can't stand the thought of life without her husband . 
we witness her dialogues with god ( she speaks both parts , paranoia ? ) 
convincing god to return jan from the oilrig , and her prayers are heard . 
an accident on the rig bring him back , paralysed from the neck and down . 
now he can't satisfy her need for physical love , he try to persuade her into finding a lover , with the ulterior motive to make her describe these affairs to him in every detail . 
at first she resist , but her love for jan and his assurance that this will make him recover more rapidly make her comply . 
imagine what this is doing to the poor girl ? 
the story is cleverly divided into eight chapters parted by beautiful pictures made by danish artist per kirkeby , accompanied by music from the era ; procol harum , deep purple , t-rex and others . 
the use of hand-held camera and lack of any make-up make the characters solid and help to separate this movie from others in the sentimental genre . 
the incredible performance from the actors makes the movie brilliant , though a bit too gloomy for my taste . 
i would say that it is in the genre of betty blue ( 37 . 2 le matin ) and bitter moon ( lunes de fiel ) . 
emily watson as bess and katrin cartlidge as her best friend dodo deliver outstanding performances , this must be the reason for giving it the " grand prix du jury " in cannes this year ( although we had hoped for the " palme d'or " ) . 
the screenplay is now available in print , the transformation being made in the period from ultimo may to july , just in time for the danish premiere .