I'll be upfront, I didn't like this movie. It was the second-most depressing movie of 2003 I've seen by a Swedish director, and it outscores Lilya 4-ever only because it has Nicole Kidman, who can act. It is too long. (as far as I can tell, the Australian release of this film is 40 minutes shorter than the American original.) If you just want to see Kidman, be warned that this is definitely an art-house movie. Maybe she has just won an Oscar?

Kidman plays Grace, who arrives at small-town Dogville (Colorado) while fleeing some bad guys during the pre-WWII depression. The townsfolk are not particularly welcoming, and get antsy when the bad guys arrive and put the heat on. In common with his earlier works (Dancer in the Dark, Zentropa), von Trier tries to communicate mood with lighting effects etc. All scenes of this movie are indoors, and therefore how Grace got there is a bit of a mystery, as well as "why Dogville?". The Film Group President wrote of Dancer (Sem 2 2001): "On the whole it is difficult to recommend this film..." Ditto.