Dogville

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This article is about the 2003 film. For Dogville comedy films, see Dogville Comedies. For things
named Dogtown, see Dogtown (disambiguation).

Dogville

Theatrical release poster

Directed by Lars von Trier

Produced by Vibeke Windeløv

Written by Lars von Trier

 Nicole Kidman
Starring
 Lauren Bacall
 Paul Bettany
 Chloë Sevigny
 Stellan Skarsgård
 Udo Kier
 Ben Gazzara
 James Caan

Narrated by John Hurt

Cinematography Anthony Dod Mantle

 Edited by Molly Marlene Stensgård

Production  Filmek AB[1]

companies
 Zoma Films UK
 Canal+
 France 3 Cinéma

Distributed by Trust Film Sales ApS[1]

Release date  19 May 2003 (Cannes)

Running time 178 minutes[2]

Country  Denmark
 United Kingdom
 Sweden
 France
 Germany
 Netherlands
 Norway
 Finland
 Italy

Language English

Budget $10 million

Box office $16.7 million

Dogville is a 2003 crime revenge tragedy film[3] written and directed by Lars von Trier, and
starring an ensemble cast led by Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Paul Bettany, Chloë
Sevigny, Stellan Skarsgård, Udo Kier, Ben Gazzara, and James Caan. It is a parable that uses
an extremely minimal, stage-like set to tell the story of Grace Mulligan (Kidman), a woman hiding
from mobsters, who arrives in the small mountain town of Dogville, Colorado, and is provided
refuge in return for physical labor.
The film is the first in von Trier's projected USA – Land of Opportunities trilogy, which was
followed by Manderlay (2005) and is projected to be completed with Wasington(sic). The film was
in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival[4] but Gus Van
Sant's Elephant won the award. It was screened at various film festivals before receiving a limited
release in the US on March 26, 2004.
Dogville opened to polarized reviews from critics. Some considered it to be pretentious or
exasperating; it was viewed by others as a masterpiece,[5] and has widely grown in stature since
its initial release.

Contents

 1Plot structure
o 1.1Prologue
 o 1.2Chapter 1
o 1.3Chapter 2
o 1.4Chapter 3
o 1.5Chapter 4
o 1.6Chapter 5
o 1.7Chapter 6
o 1.8Chapter 7
o 1.9Chapter 8
o 1.10Chapter 9 and ending
 2Cast
 3Pilot
 4Staging
 5Interpretations
 6Reception
o 6.1Critical
o 6.2Commercial
o 6.3"Best-of" lists
 7Accolades
 8References
 9Sources
 10External links

Plot structure[edit]
The story of Dogville is told in nine chapters and a prologue, with a one-sentence description of
each chapter given in the film, in the vein of such chapter headings in many 19th-century novels.
These descriptions are given below.
Prologue[edit]
Which introduces us to the town and its residents
Dogville is a very small American town by an abandoned silver mine in the Rocky Mountains,
with a road leading up to it and nowhere else to go but the mountains. The film begins with a
prologue in which a dozen or so of the fifteen citizens are introduced. They are portrayed as
lovable, good people with small flaws which are easy to forgive.
The town is seen from the point of view of Tom Edison Jr., 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, a physician, as
the moral and spiritual leader of the town.
Chapter 1[edit]
In which Tom hears gunfire and meets Grace
It is Tom who first meets Grace Mulligan, who is on the run from gangsters who
presumably shot at her. Grace, a beautiful but modest woman, wishes 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 the nearby mine. One of
the gangsters asks Tom if he has seen the woman, which he denies. The gangster then
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, can receive a
gift, and are 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 must gain the
friendship and trust of the townspeople.
Chapter 2[edit]
In which Grace follows Tom's plan and embarks upon physical labor
On Tom's suggestion, Grace offers to do chores for the citizens—talking to the
lonely, blind Jack McKay, helping to run the small shop, looking after the children of
Chuck and Vera, and so forth. After some initial reluctance, the people accept her
help in doing those chores that "nobody really needs" but which nevertheless make
their lives easier. As a result, she becomes an accepted part of the community.
Chapter 3[edit]
In which Grace indulges in a shady piece of provocation.
In tacit agreement Grace is expected to continue her chores, which she does
gladly, and is even paid small wages which she saves up to purchase a set of
seven expensive porcelain figurines, one at a time, from Ma Ginger's shop.
Grace begins to make friends, including Jack, who pretends that he is not blind.
She earns his respect upon tricking him into admitting that he is blind. Once the
two weeks are over, everyone votes at the town meeting that Grace should be
allowed to stay.
Chapter 4[edit]
Happy times in Dogville
Things go well in Dogville until the police arrive to place a "Missing" poster
featuring Grace's picture and name on the mission house. With the
townspeople divided as to whether they should cooperate with the police, the
mood of the community darkens somewhat.
Chapter 5[edit]
Fourth of July after all
Still, things continue as usual until the 4th of July celebrations. After Tom
awkwardly admits his love to Grace which she reciprocates 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.
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.
Chapter 6[edit]
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 advances to Grace and the females becoming increasingly
critical and abusive. Even the children are perverse: Jason, the 10-
year-old son of Chuck and Vera, asks Grace to spank him, until she
finally complies after much provocation (von Trier has noted that this
is the first point in the film where it is clear how completely Grace's
lack of social status and choices makes her vulnerable to other
 people manipulating her).[6] The hostility towards Grace finally
reaches a turning point as well when Chuck rapes her in his home.
Chapter 7[edit]
In which Grace finally gets enough of Dogville, leaves the town, and again sees the light
of day.
That evening, Grace tells Tom what had happened and he starts
to form a plan for her escape. The next day, Vera confronts
Grace for spanking her son Jason and Liz informs her that a few
people saw Tom leave her shack very late the night before,
casting suspicions on her virtue. The next evening she is
confronted again by Vera, Liz and Martha in her shack. Martha
witnessed a sexual encounter between Chuck and her in the
apple orchard. Vera blames her for seducing her husband and
decides to punish Grace by destroying the figurines. Grace begs
her to spare them and tries to remind Vera of all the good things
she has done for her including teaching her children the
philosophy of stoicism. Vera cruelly uses it against her while
destroying the figurines she worked hard for. Grace goes to Tom
that evening and they decide to bribe the freight truck driver Ben
to smuggle her out of town in his truck. En route, she is raped by
Ben, after which the truck lumbers only to return Grace to
Dogville.
The town agrees that they must not let her escape again. The
money paid to Ben to help Grace escape had been stolen by
Tom from his father—but when Grace is blamed for the theft,
Tom refuses to admit he did it because, as he explains, this is
the only way he can still protect Grace without people getting
suspicious. So Grace finally becomes a slave: she is chained,
repeatedly raped, and abused by the people of the town. She is
also humiliated by the children who ring the church bell every
time she is violated, much to Tom's disgust.
Chapter 8[edit]
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, then heads back to
her shack. Embarrassed and in complete denial, the
townspeople finally decide to turn her over to the mobsters-
assuming that Grace will be executed. As Tom tells Grace
this, declaring his allegiance to her over the town, he
attempts to make love to her. Still chained, she responds to
his advances by saying "...it would be so beautiful, but from
the point of view of our love so completely wrong. We were
to meet in freedom."[7] She questions if thoughts of using
force against her are in fact why he is so upset, noting that
he could have her if he wants—all he needs to do is
threaten her to get his way, as the others have done. Tom
defends his intentions as pure, but upon reflection realizes
that what she says is true. Shaken by self-doubt, he decides
it would jeopardize his career as a philosopher if this doubt
were allowed to grow. To rid himself of its source, he
decides to personally call the mobsters and turn Grace over.
Chapter 9 and ending[edit]
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 by the indignant
henchmen, and her true identity is revealed: she is the
daughter of a powerful gang leader who ran away
because she could not stand his dirty work. Her father
motions her into his Cadillac and argues with her about
issues of morality. After some introspection, Grace
reverses herself and comes to the conclusion that
Dogville's crimes cannot be excused due to the difficulty
of their circumstances. Tom, who has become aware
that the mobsters pose a threat to himself and the town,
is momentarily remorseful, but rapidly descends into
rationalization for his actions. Grace sadly returns to her
father's car, accepts his power, and uses it to command
that Dogville be removed from the earth.
Grace tells the gangsters to make Vera watch her
children die, as punishment for destroying her figurines,
stating that she "owes her that." Dogville is burned to
the ground and all of its inhabitants brutally massacred
with the exception of Tom, whom she executes
personally with a revolver right after he applauds the
effectiveness of her use of illustration as an attempt to
get her to spare him. After the massacre, the gangsters
hear a barking sound from one of the houses. It is the
dog Moses. A gangster aims a gun at the dog, but
Grace commands that it should live: "He's just angry
because I once took his bone." The chalk drawing of
Moses becomes a real dog as his barks lead into the
credits.

Cast[edit]
 John Hurt as Narrator
 Nicole Kidman as Grace Margaret Mulligan
 Lauren Bacall as Ma Ginger
 Paul Bettany as Tom Edison, Jr.
 Chloë Sevigny as Liz Henson
 Stellan Skarsgård as Chuck
 Udo Kier as The Man in the Coat
 Ben Gazzara as Jack McKay
 James Caan as The Big Man
 Patricia Clarkson as Vera
 Shauna Shim as June
 Jeremy Davies as Bill Henson
 Philip Baker Hall as Tom Edison, Sr.
 Blair Brown as Mrs. Henson
 Željko Ivanek as Ben
 Harriet Andersson as Gloria
 Siobhan Fallon Hogan as Martha
 Cleo King as Olivia
 Miles Purinton as Jason

Pilot[edit]
Dogville: The Pilot was shot during 2001 in the pre-
production phase to test whether the concept of chalk
lines and sparse scenery would work. The 15-minute
pilot film starred Danish actors Sidse Babett
Knudsen (as Grace) and Nikolaj Lie Kaas (as Tom).
Eventually Lars von Trier was happy with the overall
results. As a result, he and the producers decided to
move forward with the production of the feature film.
The test pilot was never shown in public, but is featured
on the second disc of the Dogville (2003) DVD, released
in November 2003.[8]

Staging[edit]
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 Western musical Red Garters (1954) and Vanya on
42nd Street (1994) being notable exceptions. 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. (There are also similarities
between the song "Seeräuberjenny" ("Pirate Jenny") in
Brecht and Kurt Weill's Die Dreigroschenoper (The
Threepenny Opera) and the story of Dogville.[9] Chico
Buarque's version of this song, Geni e o Zepelim [Geni
and the Zeppelin], deals with the more erotic aspects of
abjection and bears striking similarity to von Trier's
cinematic homage to the song.) 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 (e.g., there are no doors, but the
doors can always be heard when an actor "opens" or
"closes" one).
The film was shot on high-definition video using a Sony
HDW-F900 camera in a studio in Trollhättan, Sweden.

Interpretations[edit]
According to von Trier, the point of the film is that "evil
can arise anywhere, as long as the situation is right".[10]
Ebert and Roeper criticized Dogville as having a
strongly anti-American message, citing, for example, the
closing credits sequence with images of poverty-
stricken Americans [taken from Jacob Holdt's
documentary book American Pictures (1984)]
accompanied by David Bowie's song "Young
Americans".[11]
Reception[edit]
Critical[edit]
Dogville divided critics upon its United States theatrical
release, with Metacritic giving it a score of 60 ("Mixed or
average reviews")[12] and the Rotten Tomatoes critics'
consensus for it stating simply, "A challenging piece of
experimental filmmaking."[13] Some hailed it as an
innovative and powerful artistic statement,[14] while
others considered it to be an emotionally detached or
even misanthropic work. In The Village Voice, J.
Hobermanwrote, "For passion, originality, and sustained
chutzpah, this austere allegory of failed Christian charity
and Old Testament payback is von Trier's strongest
movie--a masterpiece, in fact."[15] Peter
Travers of Rolling Stonegave the film 3.5/4 stars,
praising Kidman's performance and dubbing it "a movie
that never met a cliche it didn't stomp on."[16] Scott
Foundas of LA Weekly described it as a work of
"boldness, cutting insight, [and] intermittent hilarity," and
interpreted it as "a potent parable of human
suffering."[17] In Empire, Alan Morrison wrote that
"Dogville, in a didactic and politicised stage tradition, is
a great play that shows a deep understanding of human
beings as they really are."[18]
In the Los Angeles Times, on the other hand, Manohla
Dargis dismissed it as "three hours of tedious
experimentation."[19] Richard Corliss of TIME argued that
von Trier lacked humanity and wrote that the director
"presumably wants us to attend to his characters'
yearnings and prejudices without the distractions of
period furnishings. It's a brilliant idea, for about 10
minutes. Then the bare set is elbowed out of a viewer's
mind by the threadbare plot and
characterizations."[20] Roger Ebert, who gave it two out
of four stars, felt that the film was so pedantic as to
make von Trier comparable to a crank, and viewed it as
"a demonstration of how a good idea can go
wrong."[21] In the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Sean
Axmaker said, "There's no denying von Trier is visually
intriguing. [...] But as an artist, his contempt for
humanity is becoming harder to hide with stylistic
flourish."[22] Charles Taylor of Salon additionally
responded to allegations of the film's anti-Americanism
with the charge that it was "anti-human", and said that it
was "as total a misanthropic vision as anything control
freak Stanley Kubrick ever turned out"—while
personally admitting that he felt von Trier was as
deliberate a filmmaker as Kubrick.[23]
Later, Dogville was named one of the greatest films of
its decade in The Guardian,[24] The List,[25] Paste,[26] and
other publications. In 2016, it was ranked one of the 100
greatest motion pictures since 2000 in a critics' poll
conducted by BBC Culture.[27] According to
aggregator They Shoot Pictures, Don't They, it is the
20th most acclaimed film of the same time period.[28]
American director and screenwriter Quentin
Tarantino has named the film as one of the 20 best to
have been released during the time of his active career
as a director;[29] he said that if it had been written for the
stage, von Trier would have won a Pulitzer Prize.[30]
Commercial[edit]
The film grossed $1,535,286 in the US market and
$15,145,550 from the rest of the world for a total gross
of $16,680,836 worldwide. In the opening US weekend
it did poorly, grossing only $88,855. The movie was
released in only nine theaters, however, with an
average of $9,872 per theater.[31] In Denmark, the film
grossed $1,231,984.[32] The highest-grossing country
was Italy, with $3,272,119.[32]
"Best-of" lists[edit]
Dogville made many 2004 top-ten lists:[33]

 1st – Mark Kermode, BBC Radio Five Live

 2nd – J. Hoberman, Village Voice
 3rd – Overall, Village Voice
 4th – Dennis Lim, Village Voice
 5th – Jack Mathews, New York Daily News
 8th – J.R. Jones, Chicago Reader
 n/a – David Sterritt, Christian Science Monitor
 n/a – Ron Stringer, LA Weekly
The film received nine votes (with six from critics and
three from directors) in the 2012 Sight & Sound polls.[5]

Accolades[edit]

Award

Best Danish Film

Bodil Awards Best Actress

Best Supporting Acto