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Dogville is a 2003 movie written and directed by Lars von Trier, starring Nicole Kidman, Paul Bettany, Lauren Bacall, Chloe Sevigny, Stellan Skarsgård and James Caan, among others. It is a parable that uses an extremely minimal set to tell the story of Grace (Kidman), a fugitive from mobsters, who arrives in the small town of Dogville and is provided refuge in return for physical labor. Lars von Trier (born Lars Trier, April 30, 1956) is a Danish film director. ...
Lars von Trier (born Lars Trier, April 30, 1956) is a Danish film director. ...
Nicole Mary Kidman AC (born June 20, 1967), is an Australian [1] actress. ...
Betty Joan Perske (born on September 16, 1924), better known as Lauren Bacall, is a Golden Globe– and Tony Award–winning, as well as Academy Award–nominated, American film and stage actress. ...
Chlo Sevigny (born November 18, 1974) is an American actress and model. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Stellan Skarsgård (help· info) (born June 13, 1951, Gothenburg, Sweden) is a Swedish actor. ...
James Langston Edmund Caan (born March 26, 1940) is an American Academy Award, Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated American film, stage and television actor. ...
Columbia Pictures logo, used only in the early-1990s Columbia Pictures, now Columbia-Tristar Pictures after their merger with the former Tristar Entertainment, is a film production company, and part of Sony Pictures Entertainment. ...
is the 139th day of the year (140th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...
For the fictional estate, see Manderley; for the Burmese city, see Mandalay. ...
Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
This article is about motion pictures. ...
The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ...
Lars von Trier (born Lars Trier, April 30, 1956) is a Danish film director. ...
Nicole Mary Kidman AC (born June 20, 1967), is an Australian [1] actress. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Betty Joan Perske (born on September 16, 1924), better known as Lauren Bacall, is a Golden Globe– and Tony Award–winning, as well as Academy Award–nominated, American film and stage actress. ...
Chlo Sevigny (born November 18, 1974) is an American actress and model. ...
Stellan Skarsgård (help· info) (born June 13, 1951, Gothenburg, Sweden) is a Swedish actor. ...
James Langston Edmund Caan (born March 26, 1940) is an American Academy Award, Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated American film, stage and television actor. ...
// For a comparison of parable with other kinds of stories, see Myth, legend, fairy tale, and fable. ...
In drama, the set (or setting) is the location of a storys action. ...
The film is the first in the USA - Land of Opportunities trilogy, followed by Manderlay (2005) and Wasington (2007). USA - Land of Opportunities is a trilogy of films by the Danish director Lars von Trier detailing a womans encounters with American life in the 1930s. ...
A trilogy is a set of three works of art, usually literature or film, that are connected and can be seen as a single work, as well as three individual ones. ...
For the fictional estate, see Manderley; for the Burmese city, see Mandalay. ...
Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Wasington is the final film in Lars von Triers USA - Land of Opportunities trilogy. ...
Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ...
The film was in competition for the prestigious Palme d'Or at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival but Gus Van Sant's Elephant won the award. Palme dOr The Palme dOr (Golden Palm) is the highest prize given to a film at the Cannes Film Festival. ...
Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The Cannes Film Festival (French: le Festival de Cannes), founded in 1939, is one of the worlds oldest, most influential and prestigious film festivals. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...
Staging
The story of Dogville is narrated by John Hurt in nine chapters and takes place on a stage with minimalist scenery. Some walls and furniture are placed on the stage, but the rest of the scenery exists merely as white painted outlines which have big labels on them; for example, the outlines of gooseberry bushes have the text "Gooseberry Bushes" written next to them. While this form of staging is common in black box theaters, it has rarely been attempted on film before (the 1954 musical Western Red Garters being a notable exception). The bare staging serves to focus the audience's attention on the acting and storytelling, and also reminds them of the film's artificiality. As such it is heavily influenced by the theatre of Bertolt Brecht. The film does however employ carefully designed lighting to suggest natural effects such as the moving shadows of clouds, and sound effects are used to create the presence of non-existent set pieces (i.e. there are no doors, but the doors can always be heard when an actor "opens" or "closes" one). For the singer, see Mississippi John Hurt. ...
The black-box theatre is a relatively recent innovation, consisting of a simple, somewhat unadorned performance space, usually a large square room with black walls and a flat floor. ...
Year 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The musical film is a film genre in which several songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
Red Garters was a movie starring Rosemary Clooney, Guy Mitchell, and Jack Carson, made in 1954. ...
{{dy justified his choice of form, and from about 1929 on he began to interpret its penchant for contradictions, much as had Eisenstein, in terms of the dialectic. ...
The movie was shot on high-definition video using a Sony HDW-F900 camera in a studio in Trollhättan, Sweden. This article is about high-definition video technology. ...
Lars von Trier shoots Dogville using a Sony HDW-F900 The Sony CineAlta series of cameras are high definition video cameras geared toward motion picture production. ...
The page covers both the municipality and the town Trollhättan Waterfalls in Trollhättan Trollhättan Municipality is a Municipality in western Sweden where the City Trollhättan is the seat. ...
Tagline: A quiet little town not far from here.
The story of Dogville is given in 9 chapters and a prologue, with a description of each chapter given as it takes place in the film. These descriptions are given below.
Plot summary
Prologue Dogville is a very small American town in the Rocky Mountains with a road leading up to it, but nowhere to go but the mountains. The film begins with a prologue in which we meet a dozen or so of the fifteen citizens. They are portrayed as lovable, good people with small flaws which are easy to forgive. For individual mountains named Rocky Mountain, see Rocky Mountain (disambiguation). ...
The town is seen from the point of view of Tom Edison (Paul Bettany), an aspiring writer who procrastinates by trying to get his fellow citizens together for regular meetings on the subject of "moral rearmament." It is clear that Tom wants to succeed his aging father as the moral and spiritual leader of the town. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Chapter 1 - In which Tom hears gunfire and meets Grace
It is Tom who first meets Grace (Nicole Kidman), who is on the run from gangsters who apparently shot at her. Grace, a beautiful but modest woman, wants to keep running, but Tom assures her that the mountains ahead are too difficult to pass. As they talk, the gangsters approach the town, and Tom quickly hides Grace in a nearby mine. One of the gangsters asks Tom if he has seen the woman, which he denies, and so the gangster offers him a reward and hands him a card with a phone number to call in case Grace shows up.
Tom decides to use Grace as an "illustration" in his next meeting - a way for the townspeople to prove that they are indeed committed to community values, and willing to help the stranger. They remain skeptical, so Tom proposes that Grace should be given a chance to prove that she is a good person. Grace is accepted for two weeks in which, as Tom explains to her after the meeting, she has to convince the townspeople to like her.
Chapter 2 - In which Grace follows Tom's plan and embarks upon physical labour
On Tom's suggestion, Grace offers to do chores for the citizens - talking to the lonely, blind Jack McCay (Ben Gazzara), helping to run the small shop, looking after the children of Chuck (Stellan Skarsgård) and Vera (Patricia Clarkson), and so forth. After some initial reluctance, the people accept her help in doing those chores that "nobody really needs" but which nevertheless make life better, and so she becomes a part of the community. Ben Gazzara (born Biagio Anthony Gazzara on August 28, 1930, in New York City) is an American actor in television and motion pictures. ...
Stellan Skarsgård (help· info) (born June 13, 1951, Gothenburg, Sweden) is a Swedish actor. ...
Patricia Clarkson as Sarah OConnor on Six Feet Under Patricia Davies Clarkson (born December 29, 1959) is an American Academy Award-nominated actress. ...
Chapter 3 - In which Grace indulges in a shady piece of provocation.
In tacit agreement, she is expected to continue her chores, which she does gladly, and is even paid small wages in return. Grace even begins to make friends with some of the members of town, including Jack McKay, an old blind man who pretends that he is not blind. Grace tricks him into admitting that he is blind, earning his respect. After the two weeks are over, everyone votes that she should be allowed to stay.
Chapter 4 - Happy times in Dogville
But when the police arrive to place a "Missing" poster with Grace's picture and name on it on the mission house, the mood darkens slightly. Should they not cooperate with the police?
Chapter 5 - Fourth of July after all
Still, things continue as usual until the 4th of July celebrations. After Tom awkwardly admits his love to Grace and the whole town expresses their agreement that it has become a better place thanks to her, the police arrive again to replace the "Missing" poster with a "Wanted" poster. Grace is now wanted for participation in a bank robbery. Everyone agrees that she must be innocent, since at the time the robbery took place, she was doing chores for the townspeople every day. Fourth of July redirects here. ...
Nevertheless, Tom argues that because of the increased risk to the town now that they are harboring someone who is wanted as a criminal, Grace should provide a quid pro quo and do more chores for the townspeople within the same time, for less pay. At this point, what was previously a voluntary arrangement takes on a slightly coercive nature as Grace is clearly uncomfortable with the idea. Still, being very amenable and wanting to please Tom, Grace agrees. Quid pro quo (Latin for something for something [1]) indicates a more-or-less equal exchange or substitution of goods or services. ...
Chapter 6 - In which Dogville bares its teeth
At this point the situation worsens, as with her additional workload, Grace inevitably makes mistakes, and the people she works for seem to be equally irritated by the new schedule – and take it out on Grace. The situation slowly escalates, with the male citizens making small sexual advances to Grace and the female ones becoming increasingly abusive. Even the children are perverse: Jason (Miles Purinton), the perhaps 10-year-old son of Chuck and Vera, asks Grace to spank him, until she finally complies after much provocation. Soon thereafter Chuck returns home and rapes Grace, as it becomes obvious that she is hardly able to defend herself against exploitation.
Chapter 7 - In which Grace finally gets enough of Dogville, leaves the town, and again sees the light of day.
After Tom discusses the possibility of escape with her, Grace is blamed by Vera both for spanking Jason and for being raped by Chuck. In revenge, Vera threatens Grace with destroying the porcelain figurines created by the town shop that she had acquired with the little wages she was given, Grace begs for mercy, reminding Vera of how she taught her children about stoicism. In response, Vera challenges Grace to stand up without shedding a tear while she destroys the first two of the porcelain figurines. Grace not being able to hold her tears, Vera destroys the remaining figurines. The symbol of her belonging in the town gone, she now knows that she must leave. With the help of Tom and Ben, the freight driver, she attempts escape in his apple truck, only to find herself raped by Ben ("It's not personal. I just... have to take due payment, that's all") and then returned to the town. A restored Stoa in Athens. ...
The town agrees that they must not let her escape again. The money that she used to pay Ben had been taken by Tom from his father, and Grace is blamed for the theft. Tom refuses to come forward because, he explains, this is the only way he can still protect Grace without people getting suspicious. At this point, Grace's status as slave is finally confirmed as she is collared and chained to a large iron wheel which she must carry around with her, too heavy to allow her to move anywhere outside the town. More humiliatingly still, a bell is attached to her collar and announces her presence wherever she goes. Suffice it to say that at this point, she becomes both work and sex slave for the town. Tom is the only male citizen of the town that does not rape her.
Chapter 8 - In which there is a meeting where the truth is told and Tom leaves (only to return later).
This culminates in a late night general assembly in which Grace —following Tom's suggestion— relates calmly all that she has endured from everyone in town. Embarrassed and in complete denial, the townspeople finally decide to get rid of her. When Tom informs Grace to console her, he attempts to make love to her, having been the only adult male townperson who hasn't had sex with her. Grace, however, refuses to have sex with him. Angry partly at Grace's rejection, but even more at himself for his realization that he would eventually stoop to force himself upon her like everyone else in the town, Tom ends up personally calling the mobsters, and later proposes to unanimous approval that she be locked up in her shack.
Chapter 9 and ending - In which Dogville receives the long-awaited visit and the film ends
When the mobsters finally arrive, they are welcomed cordially by Tom and an impromptu committee of other townspeople. Grace is then freed and we finally learn who she really is: the daughter of a powerful gang leader who ran away because she could not stand her father's dirty work. Her father confronts her in his big limousine and tells her that she is arrogant for not holding others to the same high standards to which she holds herself. At first she refuses to listen, but as she looks again upon the town and its people, she is compelled to agree: she would have to condemn them to the worst possible punishment if she held them to her own standards, and it would be inhumane not to do so.
So she accepts to be again her father's daughter, and immediately demands that the whole town be eliminated. In particular, she gives the order to have Vera look on at the murder of each of her children, having been told that it would stop if she can hold back her tears. The film ends in a crescendo of violence: the town is burned and all its citizens are brutally murdered by the gangsters on direct order from Grace, with the exception of Tom, whom she kills personally with a revolver. As the ashes of Dogville smolder around her, she finds and spares the only surviving resident, Moses the Dogville dog. Ironically, the only "dog" that hasn't wronged her was the town dog that had disappeared while while the town was revealing its true nature.
Interpretations The film is set in the 1930s, and the small dead-end town of Dogville can be a symbol for any similar town in the United States. As the fifteen citizens and the children of Dogville are introduced to Grace, they are put to a moral test: Are they willing to save a woman who is quite clearly innocent, and to in effect risk their own lives for her, receiving little more than kindness in return? Grace too is faced with a test: when faced with cruelty from the people of Dogville, can she forgive them because they are poor, or will she seek revenge? Year 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Critics have accused Dogville of having strongly anti-American messages. Ebert and Roeper repeatedly expressed this sentiment during their television review citing, for example, the closing credits sequence with images of poverty-stricken Americans accompanied by David Bowie's song "Young Americans." However, others feel that the message is much broader: the human species is just naturally inclined toward evil and, that like a dog who cannot help but behave in a dog-like fashion, humans simply can't be expected to live up to their own high ideals. Anti-American sentiment is a hostility towards or disapproval of the government, culture, history, and/or people of the United States of America. ...
At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper is a movie review television program featuring film critic Roger Ebert and columnist Richard Roeper, both of the Chicago Sun-Times. ...
David Bowie (IPA: []) (born David Robert Jones on 1947 January 8) is an English singer, songwriter, actor, multi-instrumentalist, producer, arranger and audio engineer. ...
Young Americans was a single by David Bowie. ...
Crew - Writer/Director -- Lars von Trier
- Cinematographer -- Anthony Dod Mantle
- Production Design -- Peter Grant
- Costume Design -- Manon Rasmussen
- Production Manager -- Tina Winholt
- Foley Artist -- Julien Naudin
- Sound Designer -- Per Streit
- Lighting Designer -- Asa Frankenberg
Lars von Trier (born Lars Trier, April 30, 1956) is a Danish film director. ...
Anthony Dod Mantle (b. ...
Peter Grant in 1973 Peter Grant, (April 5, 1935 – November 21, 1995) was a manager for The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin and Bad Company, and a record executive for Swan Song Records. ...
Cast Nicole Mary Kidman AC (born June 20, 1967), is an Australian [1] actress. ...
Betty Joan Perske (born on September 16, 1924), better known as Lauren Bacall, is a Golden Globe– and Tony Award–winning, as well as Academy Award–nominated, American film and stage actress. ...
James Langston Edmund Caan (born March 26, 1940) is an American Academy Award, Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated American film, stage and television actor. ...
For the singer, see Mississippi John Hurt. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Stellan Skarsgård (help· info) (born June 13, 1951, Gothenburg, Sweden) is a Swedish actor. ...
Patricia Clarkson as Sarah OConnor on Six Feet Under Patricia Davies Clarkson (born December 29, 1959) is an American Academy Award-nominated actress. ...
Father Jeremy Davies (born 1935) an English Roman Catholic Parish Priest of Old Hall Green, is a former doctor and is also a leading exorcist. ...
Philip Baker Hall (born September 10, 1931) is an American actor. ...
Ben Gazzara (born Biagio Anthony Gazzara on August 28, 1930, in New York City) is an American actor in television and motion pictures. ...
Blair Brown (born 23 April 1946 in Washington, District of Columbia) is an acclaimed stage actress who has also reached a broader audience with her television and film work, particularly, in the 1980s. ...
Harriet Andersson in Summer with Monika (1952). ...
Siobhan Fallon (born May 13, 1961) is an American actress. ...
Chlo Sevigny (born November 18, 1974) is an American actress and model. ...
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