There are a number of outstanding performances among the ensemble of von Trier's film. While I found Nicole Kidman to be merely adequate, several of the townspeople are given the opportunity to really shine in their roles.

I particularly enjoyed Paul Bettany as aspiring writer Tom, who appears to be the moral compass of the town, and Ben Gazzara as lonely, blind McKay. Of course, as with everything in von Trier's puzzling epic, nobody is ever exactly whom or what they seem.