Breaking the waves

[Keith Brecher]

At 03:24 PM 3/21/97 -0600, Murthy Yenamandra wrote:
>Keith Brecher writes:
>> [...] With all due respect to Nelson's peerless name, I still think
>> breaking the waves is an unusual expression that, though not by any means
>> definitely from GR, is at least suggestive of its influence.
>
>"Breaking the waves" seems to have a slightly different sense and
>meaning compared to "the breaking of the waves". The breaking of the
>wave is what happens to the wave when it reaches the shore (with the
>primary implication being the dissipation of the wave) and is not a
>particularly uncommon expression, but "breaking the waves" is what a
>barrier, shore or the surfer does to the wave (with the implication of
>resistance, control or protection) and is an uncommon formulation. In
>the first phrase, it is the wave doing the breaking (intransitive),
>whereas in the second, it is the barrier/surfer doing the breaking
>(transitive). Sense 1 is common enough that you don't need _GR_ for it.
>
>Murthy
>
>
Though your point is well taken, Murthy, I don't think it resolves the
issue of whether the inspiration for the title of Von Trier's film
originates in GR. Approaching this question by considering the meaning of
the phrase "breaking the waves" versus "the breaking of the wave" does not
seem particularly helpful because we so far have no definite idea what Von
Trier means by "breaking the waves." Additionally, I think it is dangerous
to consider the meaning of "the breaking of the wave" out of GR's context.
After your letter, I returned to the relevant passage in GR and, I may be
shoehorning now, was impressed by how it seemed to reflect some comments
made about BREAKING THE WAVES on the list, especially David's comment about
offshore floating breakers. The relevant passage in GR is on pages 146-147
of the Bantam edition: "His life had been tied to the past. He'd seen
himself a point on a moving wavefront, propagating through sterile
history--a known past, a projectible future. But Jessica was the breaking
of the wave. Suddenly there was a beach, the unpredictable...new life. Past
and future stopped at the beach: that was how he'd set it out."
Interpreting BTW from this vantage point is compelling. Somebody on the
list a while ago suggested that Bess/Jan might parallel Jessica/Roger and
while I still don't think there's any direct parallel, I'm coming round to
the notion that Bess might "break the waves" for Jan and vice versa. With
regard to "the unpredictable...new life," this is exactly what Jan is for
Bess, who, considered unmarriageable due to her mental illness, obtains an
unexpected new life in her remote village in the Outer Hebrides when Jan,
an outsider, woos and marries her. Bess' "breaking the waves" for Jan is
more complex and comprises the bulk of the film, specifically her
"prostituting" herself for Jan's health.
   Though Von Trier to my knowledge has not directly commented on the
origin of his film's title, in a lengthy interview in Sight and Sound
(October 1996), he said: "The original title was actually to be AMOR OMNIE
(i.e., 'Love is Omnipresent'), the motto Gertrude wanted on her gravestone
in Dreyer's film. But when my producer heard the title, he almost hit the
roof. He found it difficult to imagine that anyone would want to see a film
called AMOR OMNIE." Had BTW been called AMOR OMNIE, I don't think anybody
would be wondering what the title meant relative to what goes on in the
film. BREAKING THE WAVES, however, is considerably more poetic and
enigmatic and still, to my thinking, an unusual phrase.
   One final point about BTW. It may have been Mantaray who made the
interesting comment that the plot may have originated with Chaucer. In the
screenplay to BTW, Von Trier says that he elected to make a film about
"goodness" and was inspired by a children's book called GOLD HEART and,
bizarrely, IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS. Would anybody have thought of that
film as an influence on BTW? It seems to me that GR may be just as likely.
And, incidentally, the origin of the title for another Von Trier film, THE
KINGDOM, occurs several pages upriver from "the breaking of the wave" in
GR: "...no counterfeit baby, no announcement of The Kingdom..."(159). Just
joking...I think....