The most terrifying experience of Nicole Kidman’s career
Lars von Trier is one of the most influential figures in the Dogme 95 movement, known for crafting films that both captivate and deeply unsettle, such as Melancholia, Breaking the Waves, and Antichrist. His work often leans into a profoundly misanthropic and cynical perspective, exposing humanity’s innate selfishness and evil through allegorical, multilayered narratives. While directors within the Dogme 95 movement must adhere to a strict set of rules, there was one project where von Trier stepped outside these boundaries. This project, which featured Nicole Kidman, was described by her as one of the most terrifying experiences of her career.
Dogville, released in 2003, follows a young woman called Grace who stumbles upon a small town when escaping an unknown assailant. The town reluctantly agrees to let her stay there in return for her physical labour. Nicole Kidman stars in the role of Grace, playing a deeply kind and hard-working woman who is slowly exploited by this community and treated in increasingly horrific ways in order to earn her place, subjected to a level of abuse that makes us question human nature itself.
Kidman’s performance is breath-taking. She captures someone so desperate to belong that she begins to lose all agency and power. Slowly, she realises that people cannot be trusted at all and makes a heartbreaking decision that goes against her own humanity. Von Trier posits that evil is innate to humankind, goodness does not truly exist, and all of us are merely masking our true selves.
However, this understandably proved to be a very demanding role, particularly towards the end of the film when Kidman’s character is forced to wear a metal dog collar by the other villagers. When describing the shoot, Kidman said, “Lars was Lars, and I was terrified of him and drawn to him, and it was bizarre. There’s the moment where they put this dog collar on me… it’s sort of a metal collar, and then we were filming. And it was so heavy and hard to get off and I remember it being on and going [mimes being unable to breath]. And Lars thought I was acting, and actually I’m like [unable to breath]. And so when he cut, I’m like ‘get it off’, and I’ll never forget that. It was kind of dangerous and weird”.
You can imagine that an experience such as Kidman’s would have a lasting impact, as much like her story demonstrates, our bodies don’t know when we are acting. Every physical sensation feels real and will be p[received as a threat, even if it is just a performance.
It’s hard to comprehend the psychological effect of working on a production like this, especially given the set that the actors were performing on, which is a sparse sound stage with nothing but chalk and minimal props to create the illusion of a town. Von Trier perhaps does this to heighten to allegorical tone of the film, making the themes and messaging of the story more powerful when everything is stripped back and displayed in its most simple format.
Even while it sounds like a terrifying and deeply vulnerable project to be a part of, it is one of Kidman’s greatest performances and one that continues to challenge audiences today.
