Dogville quotes

View Quote In which Grace indulges in a shady piece of provocation.
If the vote says that I should leave, then 'll take the path across the mountains, while it's still light... There is not much to see around here. Wretched town. Jack McKay

View Quote Tom: Bingo Grace! Bingo! I have to tell you, your illustration beat the hell out of mine. It's frightening, yes, but so clear. Do you think that I can allow myself to use it as an inspiration in my writing?
Grace: Goodbye, Tom.

View Quote I think I've done a pretty good analysis of the folks in this town and I think I understand them in a meaningful way. But when I come to decipher you, I get absolutely nowhere. You know Liz. Liz is easy to read. And there was some attraction between us, but as I can see right through her, intellectually I mean, I can see right through her, my desire is purely of a physical nature. But with you, it's more... it's more complicated. Tom

View Quote Daunting, non-naturalistic and bold. Mary Colbert in Boxoffice Magazine

View Quote I really don't want to put any of you in jeopardy. Grace

View Quote Grace was standing beside Tom, watching them convene, and knew inside herself that this might well be the last time she would see these now so familiar faces. She had at least two of them against her, and even one would have been too many.

View Quote Is there another way? Grace

View Quote Tom: The people of this town they surprise me again and again. I might even have to revise my theories a little bit. You know how much I hate doing that kind of thing. You know, Grace, last night when I came back and I saw you lying there asleep so sweetly, I was suddenly inspired. I wrote the first chapter of a story. A story about a small town. Guess where I got the inspiration? But I haven't come up with a name for the town yet.
Grace: Why not just call it Dogville?
Tom: Wouldn't work. No, it wouldn't work. It's got to be universal. Lot of writers make that mistake, you see. Hey, do you want me to read it to you? If there is any love in it, it comes from you...

View Quote A simple tale, told so well while being so revealing. There are many reasons why it shouldn't work, but because it does, it feels magical. Jeffrey Chen in Window to the Movies

View Quote Grace paused. And while she did, the clouds scattered and let the moonlight through and Dogville underwent another of those little changes of light. It was if the light, previously so merciful and faint, finally refused to cover up for the town any longer. Suddenly you could no longer imagine a berry that would appear one day on a gooseberry bush, but only see the thorn that was there right now. The light now penetrated every unevenness and flaw in the buildings... and in... the people! And all of a sudden she knew the answer to her question all to well: If she had acted like them, she could not have defended a single one of her actions and could not have condemned them harshly enough.

View Quote For passion, originality, and sustained chutzpah, this austere allegory of failed Christian charity and Old Testament payback is von Trier's strongest movie — a masterpiece, in fact. J. Hoberman in The Village Voice

View Quote It would take a true knucklehead not to understand that Dogville isn't so much Anywhere, U.S.A., as anywhere. It really is a masterpiece — von Trier's first, as it happens. Glenn Kenny at Premeire magazine

View Quote As Grace hastened to the garage, she grew more and more pleased with the decision to keep her departure under wraps. There was actually quite a bit of work Dogville didn't need doing that its residents would have to carry out for themselves in future.

View Quote Hey Lady! I wouldn't go up there if I were you. I know the mountain well, I doubt if I'd get away with my life. It's a very nasty drop. Tom

View Quote Something...something that you would like done, but that you don't think is necessary. Grace