Editor’s note: the following essay discusses Lars von Trier’s film Breaking the Waves in detail and contains spoilers throughout. So what exactly did von Trier intend with this spectacle of bloody female sacrifice followed by the ringing of celestial bells? It is surely no accident that von Trier selected a particularly stringent form of Calvinism as the religion that shapes Bess’s inner life. This harsh interpretation may be what von Trier intended, but a more merciful and generous reading is also available. Of all the pitiable characters in Breaking the Waves, Bess in her guileless way is surely the most pitiable of all, as well as the most sublime in her extravagant self-giving.