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Powerful, poignant and a punch to the guts: Breaking the Waves, the opera

Lyric soprano Jennifer Black discusses the joys and challenges of performing in ‘Breaking the Waves’, an opera based on Lars von Trier’s Grand Prix-winning 1996 film of the same name.
23 Jul 2024 17:07
Richard Watts
A stylised photograph of a naked woman sinking underwater, he long red hair drifting towards the surface.

Performing Arts

A promotional image for Opera Australia’s Melbourne production of ‘Breaking the Waves’. Photo: Nadin Sh.

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Spoiler warning: This article alludes to the ending of Breaking the Waves.

In his 1996 drama Breaking the Waves, Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier apparently set out to make ‘a film in which no one is “bad,” everyone is “good,” and when trouble flares anyway, it’s because incompatible concepts of “good” can violently conflict with one another’.

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Richard Watts

Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts

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