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Dogville (2004)
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Stellan Skarsgaard, Siobhan Fallon, Chloevigny, Patricia Clarkson, Jeremy Davies, Philip Baker Hall, Paul Bettany, Lauren Bacall
Directed by: Lars Von Trier
Release Date: October 5th 2003 (wide).
Runtime: 178 minutes
MPAA Rating: R for violence and sexual content.
Distributor: Lionsgate Films
The beautiful fugitive, Grace (Kidman), arrives in the isolated township of Dogville on the run from a team of gangsters. With some encouragement from Tom (Bettany), the self-appointed town spokesman, the little community agrees to hide her and in return, Grace agrees to work for them.
However, when a search sets in, the people of Dogville demand a better deal in exchange for the risk of harbouring poor Grace and she learns the hard way that in this town, goodness is relative. But Grace has a secret and it is a dangerous one. Dogville may regret it ever began to bare its teeth...
This is the sad tale of the township of Dogville, in the Rocky Mountains, up where the road came to its definitive end near the entrance to the abandoned silver mine. The residents of Dogville were good, honest folk and they liked their town.
The house in which Tom (Paul Bettany) lived was the best – in good times it might almost have passed for presentable. Tom’s father (Phillip Baker Hall) had been a doctor and now received a modest pension. Tom was a writer, but in order to postpone the day when he would have to put pen to paper in earnest, he had come up with a series of town meetings on the subject of moral rearmament.
Every evening at seven, when Martha (Siobhan Fallon) chimed the hour, Tom headed to the Henson home in order to inflict upon his childhood friend Bill (Jeremy Davies) yet another humiliating defeat at checkers. Some folks might say the opportunity to meet Bill’s older sister Liz (Chloe Sevigny) was more of a draw than the checkerboard and they might be right.
That night as Tom strolled home through Elm Street (a sentimental soul from the East Coast had once dubbed their main street “Elm Street” though no Elm tree had ever cast its shadow in Dogville) he heard gun shots in the valley below. Tom sat down on the old lady’s bench to think but was roused from this activity by the sound of Moses barking, as if the dog were standing face to face with a force to be taken seriously.
Her name was Grace (Nicole Kidman). She hadn’t chosen Dogville from a map or sought out the township for a visit but Tom felt right away that she belonged. When a carload of armed men arrived in pursuit of the beautiful fugitive, Tom hid her away and told the gangsters that he had seen nothing out of the ordinary.
At the town meeting the following day, Tom provided a quick summary of the events of the previous evening to the astonished people of Dogville before going down to the mine to retrieve the fugitive from her hideaway. It was decided that Grace would be allowed to stay for two weeks.
In order to win the trust of the townsfolk, Tom proposed that Grace be put to work. Although everyone protested that they did not need any help, Tom was certain that Grace’s services would soon be in demand. However, Grace’s interview with Jack McKay (Ben Gazzara) proved sadly symptomatic of the attitude of the good people of Dogville. Jack had expressed his ‘no’ concisely and precisely. With Tom’s encouragement, Ma Ginger (Lauren Bacall) grudgingly allowed Grace to tend to the wild gooseberry bushes behind her general store. Grace persisted and slowly but surely, all of the residents of Dogville found they had some work for her after all.
It was in complete silence that the people of Dogville turned up for the meeting at the mission house - two weeks to the day that the beautiful fugitive had come to town. Grace was sent out to await the verdict of the townsfolk. She listened as the bell chimed once for each vote allowing her to stay.
Spring and early summer proved a happy time for Grace. The town had agreed that everyone was to give according to his abilities and she received wages for her chores - not much, but enough to save up for the first of the tiny china figurines from the row of seven that had stood for so long gathering dust in the window of the store. At the annual Fourth of July picnic, Grace and Tom shyly declared their love for one another.
One day, when Grace was in the orchard helping Chuck (Stellan Skarsgaard) the police came to Dogville and put up a wanted poster. That the gangsters had fixed to have charges made against Grace in their efforts to neutralize her came as no surprise. But Dogville began to bare its teeth.
Suddenly, Grace was working all hours. She was scolded by Ma Ginger for taking a shortcut through the gooseberry bushes. Jack McKay allowed his hand to linger on her thigh; Chuck took advantage of her in the apple orchard. Chuck and Vera’s boy, Jason, demanded a spanking from poor Grace and having received his punishment, promptly betrayed her. But Grace had finally saved up enough money to purchase the last of the little china figurines in Ma Ginger’s window.
Vera (Patricia Clarkson), Liz and Martha visited Grace to air their grievances against her. Grace was restrained by Liz and Martha as Vera smashed each and every one of Grace’s beloved, hard-won china figurines.
Tom persuaded Grace that she should escape from Dogville with the help of the simple trucker, Ben (Zelko Ivanec). Instead of taking Grace down the mountain, Ben took advantage of her in the back of his truck and returned to Dogville with the fugitive hidden under a tarp. Grace’s plan to escape was exposed and Tom did not come to her defense when it was discovered that Tom Edison Sr.’s considerable stash of money had disappeared. The good people of Dogville decided to prevent her running away again and Grace was attached by Moses’ collar to a rusty old flywheel that she dragged behind her on a heavy chain.
With the exception of Tom who bitterly denied himself, all the menfolk of Dogville now took to visiting Grace at night and forcing themselves on her. Tom saw everything and it pained him. Another town meeting was convened and Grace told her side of the story, simply and without embellishment. But the townsfolk were not receptive to her argument and Tom, fearing that he too might be driven out of their good favor if he continued in his support of Grace, took drastic measures. Before returning to the meeting that night, Tom opened the little drawer he hadn’t opened since the night of Grace’s arrival, took out the gangster’s card and made a telephone call.
And then it was as if Dogville just waited. Even the wind dropped, leaving the town in an unfamiliar calm. From the moment when they’d finally heard the vehicles starting one after the other from the direction of the edge of the woods, things moved rapidly. Tom had arranged a delegation to provide a proper reception. Dogville might be off the beaten track but it was hospitable nevertheless.
As for Grace, well, she was no expert in exclusive automobiles, but she recognized with no difficulty the purr of the Cadillac as it rounded the corner and made its way into the township of Dogville…
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