First, the order of things: we watched Dogville, then,searching for an answer to what had happened to us, we read your review.

What a great review. We feel like we wrote it ourselves, except of course we didn’t. We just managed to complain about virtually everything you mentioned, only less articulately. We were in fact fooled by the DVD case exactly as you said. Bottom line: great assessment and hilarious.

You need to review movies for a living. More exactly, my wife and I need for you to review them, and you need to be able to make a living at it.

Thanks!

Barry and Christine Phillips

Your review was 10 times more entertaining than this dreary film. I had the “honor” of being at the US premiere of this film at the telluride film festival. When I told some fellow writers who had seen it at Cannes that I was excited to see the movie, they looked at me like I had just escaped from the loony bin. 3 hours later, I understood why.

The performances in this movie are exceptional. The grotesque characters (reminiscent of Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson) are incredibly well defined. I was especially impressed with the young actor who played the character Jason, a boy who convinces Nicole Kidman to spank him as part of a retaliation. It is rare to find a child actor able to handle such dark material, and he comes across positively wicked. Also, Ben Gazzara’s performance is remarkable, and ranges from touching to disturbing. Zjelko Ivanek, Stellan Skarsgaard, Patricia Clarkson, James Caan, Paul Bettany, and of course Nicole Kidman, the list of remarkable performances goes on and on. Every character and every actor is given their moment in the spotlight. The actors all come out favorably, the characters not so much.

I must say I wasn’t a big fan of Chloe Sevigny, but I often think she’s overrated. Still, excellent performances, certainly one of the best ensemble casts in recent years.

That being said, I urge readers to watch this film. Regardless of your opinions about it, I can guarantee that you will have an opinion about it. After recommending it to one of my friends, also a film buff, he called me in an outrage, asking why I had recommended this to him. We ended up discussing the film intensely for about 2 hours and my friend admitted that while he didn’t like the film, he was glad he’d seen it.

It’s not an enjoyable film, but it is an interesting one. If you brace yourself and let the film carry you, I think you will find it compelling and rather powerful. It is a bleak picture of humanity, shown to us in its barest sense- a true work of art.