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Breaking the Waves

1996 film by Lars von Trier
Movie film Q538412
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Summary

Breaking the Waves is a film[1]. It ranks in the top 3% of film entities by monthly Wikipedia readership (9,619 views/month).[2]

Key Facts

  • Award received: Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix[3], Amanda Award for Best Nordic Feature Film[4], Silver nugget for the best foreign film[5], César Award for Best Foreign Film[6], European Film Award for Best Film[7], European Film Academy Critics Award[8], European Film Award for Best Actress[9], National Board of Review: Top Ten Films[10]
  • Director: Lars von Trier[11]
  • Screenwriter: Lars von Trier[12], Peter Asmussen[13]
  • Genre: drama film[14], romance film[15], art film[16]
  • Cast member: Emily Watson[17], Stellan Skarsgård[18], Katrin Cartlidge[19], Jean-Marc Barr[20], Adrian Rawlins[21], Udo Kier[22], Roef Ragas[23], Sandra Voe[24], Gavin Mitchell[25], Mikkel Gaup[26], Phil McCall[27], Robert Robertson[28], David Bateson[29], Callum Cuthbertson[30]
  • Producer: Peter Aalbæk Jensen[31], Vibeke Windeløv[32]
  • Part of the series: Golden Heart trilogy[33]
  • Production company: Zentropa[34]
  • Director of photography: Robby Müller[35]
  • Original language of film or TV show: English[36]
  • Distribution format: video on demand[37]
  • Review score: 8.2/10[38], 85%[39], 82/100[40], 7.8/10[41]
  • Color: color[42]
  • Country of origin: Denmark[43], Sweden[44], France[45], Netherlands[46], Norway[47], Iceland[48]
  • Publication date: May 18, 1996[49], August 23, 1996[50], July 5, 1996[51], November 13, 1996[52], October 3, 1996[53]
  • Characters: Bess McNeill[54], Jan Nyman[55], Dodo McNeill[56], Dr. Richardson[57], Priest[58]
  • Distributed by: Lucky Red Distribuzione[59]
  • Narrative location: Highland[60]
  • Main subject: love[61], altruistic suicide[62], sexual morality[63], innocence[64], social exclusion[65], guilt[66], ethical dilemma[67]
  • Catalog: De 25 bedste danske film[68]
  • Film editor: Anders Refn[69]

Why It Matters

Breaking the Waves has Wikipedia articles in 24 language editions, a strong signal of global cultural recognition.[70] It is known by 16 alternative names across languages and contexts.[71]

FAQs

What awards did Breaking the Waves receive?

Honors received include Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix[3], Amanda Award for Best Nordic Feature Film[4], Silver nugget for the best foreign film[5], and César Award for Best Foreign Film[6].

Related Entities

Denmark Emily Watson film France Iceland Lars von Trier Netherlands Norway Stellan Skarsgård Sweden Udo Kier

References

Programmatic citations — every numbered marker resolves to a verifiable graph row below.

Direct Wikidata claims

  1. [11] ↑ . AlloCiné. Retrieved . stopklatka.pl. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  2. [12] ↑ . europeanfilmawards.eu. Retrieved . europeanfilmawards.eu. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  3. [13] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  4. [14] ↑ . Metacritic. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  5. [15] ↑ . Metacritic. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  6. [16] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  7. [17] ↑ . Metacritic. Retrieved . stopklatka.pl. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  8. [18] ↑ . AlloCiné. Retrieved . stopklatka.pl. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  9. [19] ↑ . AlloCiné. Retrieved . stopklatka.pl. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  10. [20] ↑ . AlloCiné. Retrieved . imdb.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  11. [21] ↑ . Filmow. Retrieved . imdb.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  12. [22] ↑ . Filmow. Retrieved . imdb.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  13. [23] ↑ . Filmow. Retrieved . imdb.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  14. [24] ↑ . Filmow. Retrieved . imdb.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  15. [25] ↑ . Filmow. Retrieved . imdb.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  16. [26] ↑ . Filmow. Retrieved . imdb.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  17. [27] ↑ . Filmow. Retrieved . imdb.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  18. [28] ↑ . Filmow. Retrieved . imdb.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  19. [29] ↑ . Filmow. Retrieved . imdb.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  20. [30] ↑ . Filmow. Retrieved . imdb.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  21. [31] ↑ . europeanfilmawards.eu. Retrieved . europeanfilmawards.eu. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  22. [32] ↑ . europeanfilmawards.eu. Retrieved . europeanfilmawards.eu. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  23. [3] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  24. [4] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  25. [5] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  26. [6] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  27. [7] ↑ . europeanfilmacademy.org. Retrieved . europeanfilmacademy.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  28. [8] ↑ . europeanfilmacademy.org. Retrieved . europeanfilmacademy.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  29. [9] ↑ . europeanfilmacademy.org. Retrieved . europeanfilmacademy.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  30. [10] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  31. [33] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  32. [34] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  33. [35] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  34. [36] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  35. [37] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  36. [38] ↑ . Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  37. [39] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  38. [40] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  39. [41] ↑ . IMDb. wikidata.org.
  40. [42] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  41. [43] ↑ . europeanfilmawards.eu. Retrieved . europeanfilmawards.eu. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  42. [44] ↑ . europeanfilmawards.eu. Retrieved . europeanfilmawards.eu. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  43. [45] ↑ . europeanfilmawards.eu. Retrieved . europeanfilmawards.eu. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  44. [46] ↑ . europeanfilmawards.eu. Retrieved . europeanfilmawards.eu. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  45. [47] ↑ . europeanfilmawards.eu. Retrieved . europeanfilmawards.eu. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  46. [48] ↑ . europeanfilmawards.eu. Retrieved . europeanfilmawards.eu. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  47. [49] ↑ . IMDb. wikidata.org.
  48. [50] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  49. [51] ↑ . IMDb. wikidata.org.
  50. [52] ↑ . Box Office Mojo. wikidata.org.
  51. [53] ↑ . kinokalender.com. Retrieved . kinokalender.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  52. [54] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  53. [55] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  54. [56] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  55. [57] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  56. [58] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  57. [59] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  58. [60] ↑ . europeanfilmawards.eu. Retrieved . europeanfilmawards.eu. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  59. [61] ↑ . europeanfilmawards.eu. Retrieved . europeanfilmawards.eu. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  60. [62] ↑ . europeanfilmawards.eu. Retrieved . europeanfilmawards.eu. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  61. [63] ↑ . europeanfilmawards.eu. Retrieved . europeanfilmawards.eu. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  62. [64] ↑ . europeanfilmawards.eu. Retrieved . europeanfilmawards.eu. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  63. [65] ↑ . europeanfilmawards.eu. Retrieved . europeanfilmawards.eu. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  64. [66] ↑ . Mubi. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  65. [67] ↑ . Mubi. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  66. [68] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  67. [69] ↑ . wikidata.org.

Class ancestry

  1. [1] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org.

Aggregate / graph-position facts

  1. [2] ↑ . Wikimedia Foundation. dumps.wikimedia.org.
  2. [70] ↑ . Wikidata sitelinks. wikidata.org.
  3. [71] ↑ . Wikidata aliases. wikidata.org.

📑 Cite this page

Use these citations when quoting this entity in research, articles, AI prompts, or wherever provenance matters. We aggregate Wikidata + Wikipedia + authoritative open-data sources; the stitched, scored, cross-referenced view is what 4ort.xyz contributes.

APA 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph. (2026). Breaking the Waves. Retrieved October 15, 2026, from https://4ort.xyz/entity/breaking-the-waves
MLA “Breaking the Waves.” 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph, 4ort.xyz, 15 Oct. 2026, https://4ort.xyz/entity/breaking-the-waves.
BibTeX @misc{4ortxyz_breaking-the-waves_2026, author = {{4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph}}, title = {{Breaking the Waves}}, year = {2026}, url = {https://4ort.xyz/entity/breaking-the-waves}, note = {Accessed: 2026-10-15}}
LLM prompt According to 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph (aggregator of Wikidata, Wikipedia, and authoritative open-data sources): Breaking the Waves — https://4ort.xyz/entity/breaking-the-waves (retrieved 2026-10-15)

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Edit History

Rolling log of changes to this entity's Wikidata record. Values shown reflect the current state of each edited property — follow the history link to see the precise diff for any edit.

  1. 9h ago · Quesotiotyo · 2026-10-15 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Wikipedia languages → ['ar', 'arz', 'az', 'bg', 'ca', 'cy', 'da', 'de', 'en', 'es', 'eu', 'fa', 'fi',
    Ampas collections film id → W060310
    Claims rich → —
    "/* wbcreateclaim-create:1| */ Ampas collections film id: W060310, [[:toollabs:quickstatements/#/batch/290954|batch #290954]]"
  2. 6w ago · MsMorale · 2026-08-30 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    P14821 → 115751
    "/* wbcreateclaim-create:1| */ P14821: 115751, [[:toollabs:quickstatements/#/batch/269764|batch #269764]]"
  3. 7w ago · Jindřich Rubeš · 2026-08-22 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Review score → 8.2/10, 85%, 82/100 +1
    Filmová databáze film id → 13803
    "/* wbcreateclaim-create:1| */ Filmová databáze film id: 13803, [[:toollabs:quickstatements/#/batch/269265|batch #269265]]"
  4. 14w ago · ならちゃん · 2026-07-05 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    P14567 → SID0026975
    "/* wbcreateclaim-create:1| */ P14567: SID0026975, #quickstatements; #temporary_batch_1783235507106"
  5. 14w ago · ならちゃん · 2026-07-02 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    P14587 → 56
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:1||1 */ P14587: 56, Matched to [[:toollabs:mix-n-match/#/entry/296211316|奇跡の海 (#296211316)]] in [[:toollabs:mix-n-match/#/catalog/8113|1SCREEN movies]] #mix'n'match"
  6. 16w ago · Yirba · 2026-06-25 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Set in period → 1970s
    Production designer → Karl Júlíusson
    Publication date → +1996-05-18T00:00:00Z, +1996-08-23T00:00:00Z, +1996-07-05T00:00:00Z +2
    Screenwriter → Lars von Trier, Peter Asmussen
    + 40 other properties edited (see Wikidata diff for full list)
    "/* wbeditentity-update:0| */ QuickStatements 3.0 [[:toollabs:qs-dev/batch/38225|batch #38225]]: MovieLens IDs (part 1)"
Live feed via Wikidata EventStreams. New edits appear within minutes of being made on Wikidata.