Emily Watson gives a stunning performance as Bess, a member of a strict Calvinist enclave in 1970s Scotland, who breaks with her community to marry an oil worker (Stellan Skarsgård). After an accident incapacitates him, he insists that Bess still seek out sexual pleasure and share the details with him. She comes to believe that these sacrifices will convince God to bring her husband back to health, causing her to seek out more dangerous liaisons. “This epic melodrama about love, faith, suffering and redemption is emotionally overwhelming…von Trier building the… intensity with consummate skill” —Time Out Film.