Lessons learned from double dose of 'Breaking the Waves'
Film, operatic versions relate newlywed’s story
Composer Missy Mazzoli was 28 years old the first time she had a piece performed by the Albany Symphony. That was 12 years ago and today she is prominent on the international music scene and is at work on a commission from the Metropolitan Opera.
Mazzoli’s breakthrough piece was “Breaking the Waves,” an opera with libretto by Royce Vavrek based on the highly praised 1996 film of the same name from Danish director Lars Von Trier. The evening-length piece debuted in 2016 at Opera Philadelphia and has since been produced by several other companies. The Los Angeles Opera was scheduled to be performing it this month. Instead, the Philly and L.A. companies are offering a video of the world premiere on their respective streaming platforms, Opera Philadelphia Channel and LA Opera On Now.
Both the film and the opera come with warnings of intense subject matter — violence, language and nudity. Ready for a challenge and hoping for some revelations, I watched both versions of “Breaking the
Waves” for the first time, back to back, over the course of a recent weekend. The juxtaposition was instructive about opera’s capacity to play with time, scramble locations and expand emotions.
Like so many great and tragic operas, “Breaking the Waves” centers on a woman in a moral dilemma. Bess is young, naive and pious, having been raised in a strict Calvinist community in Scotland. She marries Jan, an outsider whose job on an oil rig requires him to be away for weeks at a time. As a newlywed blissfully awakened to her sexuality, Bess is physically distraught at Jan’s departure and prays fervently for his return home. Jan suffers a grave injury that results in his nearly complete paralysis. Thinking it’s her fault, Bess is intent to do whatever it takes to keep her husband alive. From his bed, Jan encourages her to find other lovers and to tell him about the encounters. As his health fades, he insists that he can only survive if his wife becomes more fervent in her pursuit of erotic encounters.
It’s a powerful story and the film is almost painful to watch. Emily Watson portrays Bess as fragile but determined and slightly on the edge of sanity. Though there’s no soundtrack, the story is broken into seven chapters, each launching with a ‘70s pop song played in its entirety while the screen is filled with a landscape painting. Maybe Von Trier thought breaks in the story were needed, but the device doesn’t work and just felt like a series of mini-intermissions.
As an opera “Breaking Waves” is divided into three acts, probably with one intermission in live performance. Borrowing little to no dialogue from the film script, Vevrek’s libretto telescopes the characters and themes. In the film Lars has a rowdy gang of young male friends who are replaced by one mate. Bess’ mother is stern but meek and doesn’t get much screen time. Onstage, she’s still shaking her finger all the time but she’s a lot more vocal and present.
While numerous scenes are either reduced or eliminated, the opera raises the temperature by, among other things, putting more force into the condemning churchmen and more steam into the carnal acts. Where the church elders were a bunch of stiff and solemn men who keep to the church grounds, they’re now a powerful chorus that shadows and surrounds Bess. Their voices even horn in on Bess’ prayerful dialogues with God.
Bess and Jan have a tender beautiful scene in their bridal bedchamber as they sing to each other, “Your body is a map.” In the movie, the wedding night is mostly about Bess’ sexual discoveries. Her subsequent affairs in the film are few and relatively discreet, while the opera puts her at the center of an elegantly choreographed number that’s either an orgy or a suggestion of her having multiple partners over time. As it’s going on the mother is nearby and sings, “I won’t ask what you’ve been up to.” Meanwhile, Jan can also be seen immobilized in his hospital bed. I wonder if filmmakers ever envy this kind of layering that opera can do so well.
The final chapter in the film is titled “Bess’ Sacrifice” but the Christian references have already been plentiful. As with mystics throughout history, including Joan of Arc, the question is: Are her exchanges with God genuine or hysteria? When schoolchildren throw pebbles at her, the allusion to martyrdom is obvious. What occurs after Beth dies also references what is said to happen follow the passing of a saint.
Mazzoli’s rich orchestral score bathes the proceedings in an aura of consequence and purpose. In that sense, the opera was foreshadowed by several of her pieces that the ASO performed, which showed the composer’s keen ability to create atmosphere and a sustained feeling of spirituality. Her writing for voice is melodic and attuned to the sentiment at hand while delivering English in an intelligible manner (though the subtitles are still welcome).
Soprano Kiera Duffy sang the
lead role with a sweet and sincere voice and she maintained those qualities even during Bess’ most trying situations. In the brief and exquisite death scene, the bloodied Bess repeats the name of her beloved in a voice that aches with longing. It’s the
moment that lingers in my mind and my ear. I take that as a sign that “Breaking the Waves” is in the finest tradition of grand opera.