The one thing no one can ever accuse Lars von Trier of is not being creative. Pretentious? Maybe. But in the end, the world of cinema is better off with him around.
The story of Dogville seems less important than the way in which it is told, but basically it revolves around Grace (Nicole Kidman) who arrives in the above-mentioned town apparently running from something. The townsfolk, used to their secluded rural lifestyle are at first hesitant to welcome the stranger. Young Thomas Edison Jr. (Paul Bettany) is quickly enamored by her and helps convince the town to let her stay. As gangsters (played by von Trier regulars Udo Kier and Jean Marc-Barr) and police come looking for her, the people of Dogville are silent. But when they decide they deserve something for their silence, they begin to exploit Grace’s giving nature to the extreme. Hard labor, rape and humiliation – not much hilarity – ensues. But maybe they really don’t know who they’re dealing with… dah dah daaaaahhh!
Just to bring you up to speed on the director – The Element of Crime makes no sense, Epidemic is clever but makes little sense, Zentropa (a.k.a. Europa) is brilliant, The Kingdom series is brilliant, Breaking the Waves is weird but has incredible performances, Dancer in the Dark is brilliant, The Idiots doesn’t make any sense and here we are at Dogville. When I say that Dogville takes place on a large black stage with chalk outlines for walls and minimal props for definition, I’m being literal. The film is actually shot to intentionally appear like a stage, but one with four fourth walls. Frankly, this is a brilliant gimmick better suited for a half-hour short than a three hour tour (a threeeee hooouuuurrr tooouuuurrrr).
John Hurt always makes an excellent narrator, but films with too much narration make me sleepy and here is no exception. Kidman is excellent. Paul Bettany is a good actor but feels a little flat. Stellan Skarsgaard, another regular von Trier cast member, is wonderfully creepy as Chuck the brutish apple farmer. His wife is well played by the brilliant Patricia Clarkson. Ben Gazarra is great as an ethically questionable blind man. And indeed, if von Trier succeeded in anything with this film, it was in drawing out convincing performances from an entire town of actors in a blatantly unrealistic set.
As I mentioned before, this set is a gimmick that can quickly grow tiresome, but one has to admit that by the end, in which audience members were clapping upon its announced arrival (generally not a good sign), we forget about the set and give ourselves up to the people. I spent the first two hours of this film wishing perhaps that I were dead. It is oppressively slow and unhappy, besides being weirdly presented. But in the end, I have to admit, I was hooked and couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen next. Actually, I had my suspicions and I was right, but there was something so satisfying about seeing them come through.
The end credits of the film have been hyped by the unimaginative as anti-American. While David Bowie sings Young America, von Trier displays images from a now-famous photographic book by Jacob Holdt (American Pictures) on the poorest of the poor in the United States. I’m not sure what significance this has in relation to the story of Dogville, except that perhaps the town thought its life was hard, but these pictures show what hard life really is. But regardless, we’re in strange times indeed when the display of the country’s poor can be construed as anti-American and not just true.
Anyway, a one of a kind film I hope I never have to see again. C+
