A powerful story, set in a remote Scottish village in the early 1970s, about a unique young woman and her profound experience of love and devotion. Bess falls madly in love with Jan, an oil-rig worker, and against the wishes of the strict Calvinist elders of her community, she marries this outsider.

Jan is captivated by the innocence radiated by his new bride and for a brief time they have an intensely happy, passionate life together. When Jan returns to the oil-rig, Bess misses him terribly and prays fervently to God to bring him home. Shortly thereafter, Jan is injured in an accident that leaves him paralyzed.

Knowing that he will never walk again and devastated that his beautiful, young wife will never make love with him again, Jan misleads Bess by convincing her he can only survive if she takes a lover. Because she is so pure, Bess does what she believes she must in the hope of keeping him alive and soon finds herself in a complicated spiral of love, community and tragedy...

Directed by
Lars von Trier

Cast
Emily Watson - Bess
Stellan Skarsgard - Jan
Katrin Cartlidge - Dodo
Jean-Marc Barr - Terry
Udo Kier - Man on the Trawler
Adrian Rawlins - Doctor Richardson
Jonathan Hackett - The Minister
Sandra Voe - Bess' Mother
Mikkel Gaup - Pits
Roef Ragas - Pim
Phil McCall - Grandfather
Robert Robertson - Chairman
Desmond Reilly - An Elder
Sarah Grudgeon - Sybilla
Finlay Welsh - Coroner
David Gallacher - Glasgow Doctor
Ray Jeffries - Man on Bus

Production Co.
Zentropa Entertainment
Trust Film Sales
Northern Lights A/S Productions
Liberator2
Argus Film Produktie
La Sept Cinema
Swedish Television Drama
Media Investment Club
Nordic Film & Television Fund
VPRO Television

Produced by
Vibeke Windelov
Axel Helgeland
Lars Jonsson
Peter Aalbaek Jensen
Peter Van Vogelpoel
Rob Langestraat
Philippe Bober
Marianne Slot
Bengt Forslund
Dag Alveberg

Studio
Det Danske Filmstudie

Writer
Lars von Trier
Peter Asmussen

Music
Ian Hunter