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Let us approach the central topic of Lacan's seminar <i>Encore</i> - the paradoxes of feminine sexuality - through Lars von Trier's <i>Breaking the Waves</i> (<i><b>BW</b></i>), a film which enables us to avoid the fatal misreading of Lacan's notion of feminine <i>jouissance</i>.</tt></font><p>

<font size="-0"><tt><i><b>BW</b></i>, a film about the inherent deadlocks of Goodness,<a href="#1"><font color="#adb5bd" size="-0"><tt>¹</tt></font></a> is set during the 70's in a small Presbyterian community on the West Coast of Scotland. Bess, a simpleminded and deeply religious local girl, marries Jan, a hearty oil-rig worker, courting the disapproval of the village elders. After the sexual ecstasy of their honeymoon Bess can't bear having Jan return to the rigs, so she begs God to return Jan to her saying that in exchange for his return she would put up with any trial of her faith. Soon afterwards, as if in answer to her prayers, Jan effectively returns, but paralyzed from the waist down due to an accident on the oil-rig. Confined to his hospital bed, Jan tells Bess she must make love to other men and describe her experiences to him in detail-this way, she will keep awake his will to live: although she will be doing the act physically with other men, the true sex will occur in their conversation...</tt></font></p><p>