Unusual, theatrical drama by pioneering director Lars Von Trier, co-founder of the Dogme film movement – which uses pared-down filming techniques inspired by Bertolt Brecht. The entire film is shot on a bare wooden sound stage without special effects or artificial lighting, the streets and homes are drawn in chalk, and characters come and go through imaginary doors. All the characters are on stage all the time, whether they are involved in a scene or not, and the story is narrated throughout by John Hurt. An intense study of an incomer to an isolated community, the film stars Nicole Kidman as Grace, a beautiful fugitive with a dangerous secret. Arriving in the small town of Dogville in the Rocky Mountains in the 1930s, she offers her services to the people of the town in return for a safe place to hide. The townsfolk (played by Paul Bettany, Patricia Clarkson, Ben Gazzara, Chloe Sevigny, Blair Brown and Lauren Bacall among others) reluctantly agree to shelter Grace for two weeks. But as it becomes increasingly dangerous to harbor her, they come to expect favours from Grace, and the more she gives, the greater her obligations become.
Starring: Nicole Kidman, John Hurt, Paul Bettany, Lauren Bacall
Directed by: Lars von Trier
Runtime: 177 minutes
Studio: Icon Home Entertainment
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I do enjoy directors that are willing to take some risks with their films, going against the usual norms of celluloid. Lars von Trier’s Dogville is one such film offering a relatively simple storyline but the format is very unique but at nearly three hours long it was potentially a daunting prospect.
The film focuses on the isolated town of Dogville and how life changes for the locals when a woman on the run, Grace (Nicole Kidman), shows up when gunfire can be heard in the distance. She is hidden by the locals who begin to worry when police frequently show up in town asking about her and even putting up wanted posters. Grace is desperate to stay safe and agrees to win the approval of the community by working for each and every household for a meagre wage. Having the dirty work done for them, the locals are happy for Grace to stay but the more dangerous it becomes to protect her the more the townspeople start to demand further work of her. What the locals don’t know is that Grace has a sinister secret and the more she is wronged the closer they come to revealing that secret.
The first notable thing about Dogville is the way it is filmed. Narrated by the wonderful John Hurt our opening scene is of a stage with outlines of Dogville depicted as white lines on the wooden surface. It looks like a plan of the town and we do get aerial views of it during the film. The various houses are listed and the streets are named as well. The locals enter the white-lined dwellings by standing outside, opening doors in front of them that we cannot see and stepping inside. This format is used in the introductory segment and you’ll think that’s interesting but it won’t be used for the entire three hours. How wrong you will be. This is how the whole film plays out, on this one stage with the characters moving in and out of these dwellings that are nothing more than white-lined squares with some furniture inside. I was understandably concerned that this would tarnish the film but incredibly you’ll soon not notice. It’s a brave and unique way to depict the story and in the end I was in admiration.
Dogville doesn’t really do anything wrong throughout. At three hours many will be put off but you’ll not really feel the film’s length and every scene seems relevant. Kidman is excellent as Grace, charming on her arrival in Dogville and cruelly used by the locals in exchange for protection but by the end she has transformed completely. The film’s format with its stage setting had me worried from the start but somehow it all works and Dogville rightly draws our focus onto the characters rather than the settings. At the outset, Tom wants the locals to demonstrate their kindness and compassion by sheltering Grace from harm but everyone in the town soon sheds their mask and reveals the monster beneath. This a film of great contrasts and the twist at the end is simply magnificent and I daresay some audiences, like me, will be very pleased with Grace’s secret.
Dogville is a very different drama with a stage and hand painted outlines for houses being your only real setting but this doesn’t have a negative impact in any way. The cast are all excellent, you have the wonderful John Hurt narrating, there may be three hours to get through but it never feels too long and that ending is well worth the wait.
Verdict: 5/5
(Film source: reviewer’s own copy)
Film Review: Dogville | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave
