Dogville

"A quiet little town not far from here."

2003 2h 58m EN

🙌

7.7

BANGER

🍅

70%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

IMDB

★7.7TMDB · 2,791🍅70%Rotten Tomatoes●61Metacritic★8IMDB · 167,066

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Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A woman on the run from the mob is reluctantly accepted in a small Colorado community in exchange for labor, but when a search visits the town, she learns that their support has a price.

“A quiet little town not far from here.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Nicole Kidman
Grace Margaret Mulligan
Paul Bettany
Tom Edison
John Hurt
Narrator (voice)
Stellan Skarsgård
Chuck
Philip Baker Hall
Tom Edison Sr.
Patricia Clarkson
Vera
Ben Gazzara
Jack McKay
Chloë Sevigny
Liz Henson

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Lars von Trier
Writers: Lars von Trier, Sune Elskær
Languages: English
Countries: Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom, Norway, Italy

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Clocks in at 178 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 23 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 9 countries: Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom, Norway, Italy.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "USA: Land of Opportunities Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

286+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Lars von Trier, shot by Anthony Dod Mantle. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Molly Malene Stensgaard shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Nicole Kidman and Paul Bettany and John Hurt carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Lars von Trier directs. Anthony Dod Mantle behind the camera. Molly Malene Stensgaard cuts. A long sit — settle in. Profitable at the box office. Produced in Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom, Norway, Italy. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Clocks in at 178 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
2Released 23 years ago.
3International production across 9 countries: Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom, Norway, Italy.
4Part of the "USA: Land of Opportunities Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5286+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
6Directed by Lars von Trier, shot by Anthony Dod Mantle. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Editor Molly Malene Stensgaard shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Nicole Kidman and Paul Bettany and John Hurt carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "A quiet little town not far from here.".
10IMDB entry: tt0276919 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 27 themes, including "friendship", "bondage", "rape", "police".
12Released under 16 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle
Editing: Molly Malene Stensgaard
Production design: Peter Grant
Costume design: Manon Rasmussen
Makeup / hair: Kerry Warn
VFX supervisor: Peter Hjorth
Sound: Mads Ljungdahl
Runtime: 178 min · 2h 58m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $10,000,000
Box office: $16,690,617
Return: 167% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Dogville (2003)
Rotten Tomatoes: 70% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 61/100
IMDB rating: 8/10 · 167,066 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

21 wins & 33 nominations total

European Film Award for Best Cinematographer

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Part of

USA: Land of Opportunities Collection

The USA: Land of Opportunities Collection was a proposed trilogy by Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier. It was supposed to include Dogville (2003), Manderlay (2005), and a final film Wasington which was never made.

Also by

Lars von Trier

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2020-04-05
★ 9/10
Rapists and murders may be the victims according to you, but I, I call them dogs. And if they're lapping up their own vomit, the only way to stop them is with a lash. A sparse soundstage is stylishly utilized to create a minimalist small-town setting in which a mysterious woman named Grace (Nicole Kidman) hides from the criminals who pursue her. The town locals at first decide to shield Grace, and in return she openly works labour tasks for them to work off her gratitude. It's not long, however, before the residents of Dogville begin to show their true teeth... One thing is an absolute, Lars Von Trier knows how to push the buttons of critics and movie lovers alike. Dogville proved to be a case in point, a film that saw some high profile film critics renounce the director as anti American - even anti human, while others lauded the "Great Dane" as a visionary and a director of bravura panache. The point is, and it's a fact, there is no guarantee that Dogville will hit the spot of every first time viewer venturing in for the challenge. As it happens, I'm very much in the plus camp here, to me it's not only brave in style of production, but also it's narratively as caustic as anything so called "anti human" directors like Kubrick, Godard etc ever produced. The bareness of the sound stage setting, where we can see the workings of all residents of Dogville going about their respective business, very much shows there is no hiding place, all the bile strewn movements/ignorance is laid bare for all to see, we are all complicit. There's an outstanding cast assembled, fronted by Kidman (never more beautiful and never better as an actress), with support coming from Paul Bettany, Stellan Skarsgård, Lauren Bacall, Ben Gazzara, Patricia Clarkson, James Caan, Philip Baker Hall and others who give their all for their director. It's often charged that Trier is a misogynist, personally I don't see it that way, more so as Dogville reaches its crushing climax. This easily could have been shaved of 20 minutes from the run time, but it has to be said that Von Trier doesn't waste a single frame here. Roll your dice and take your chance, you will either love it or hate it, or admire or admonish, what isn't in doubt is that you will never ever forget watching Dogville. 9/10
CinemaSerf2023-08-25
★ 7/10
I reckon this is my favourite Lars Von Trier film. Set amidst some eerily basic staging purporting to be an hick American town, we see the arrival of "Grace" (Nicole Kidman). Now she is attired in furs and lace and is clearly on the run from something, or someone. Shortly after, some hoods turn up in the town and leave a card in case she ever shows up... The townsfolk are ostensibly nice enough - if rather an eclectic mix, and local "Tom" (Paul Bettany) takes a bit of a shine to her. Can she stay? Initially they can find nothing for her to do, but gradually they seem to embrace her and she becomes an integral - almost enthralled - member of their society. Some rather odd manipulation from the young "Jason" (Miles Purinton) causes things to start to take a darker turn, though, and she and her as yet unfulfilled beau decide that it might be time for her to go. Will she be permitted? This story is darkly brutal at times, the harshness of her increasingly inhumane treatment is exemplified by the presence of a cast that features an almost menacing Lauren Bacall, as well as effective contributions from Blair Brown, Ben Gazzara and Philip Baker Hall who all demonstrate clearly just how fake the facade in this town is. Kidman is superb, probably the best I have seen her on screen. She has a potent chemistry with the on-form Bettany and the stage lighting, paucity of settings and the overall simplicity of the production works really well before an ending that I feared might not deliver as I wanted - but boy, it does! This is well worth a watch. It illustrates the best and worst in human nature - but with the emphasis very much more on the latter!
badelf2023-11-19
★ 10/10
SPOILERS On my second watch of this film, I am now convinced that Von Trier is the Ingmar Bergman of the 20th century. No other director today digs so profoundly into the human soul, or in such a creative way. And no other director has been so daring with visual translation. On this watching of Dogville, it finally hit me that this story is the life story of a woman in an abusive relationship. Maybe inspired in part by Polly's "Seeräuberjenny" from Threepenny Opera, or not. Nonetheless, the film script is the same as what might be experienced by a woman drawn into a relationship by a seemingly enchanting man(town). Eventually, as it turns exploitive and finally abusive, she becomes numb and resigned. Some women never escape that stage. Some women are able to escape and most of those are murdered by the abuser. And a few actually murder the abuser. Perhaps the latter is the only way out.