The 1984 version of 1984 had an intentional "washed out" appearance to reflect the grimness of the world it was showing - apparently done by a bleach bypass done to each print:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four_%28film%29...

I suspect Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves did something similar as well - it had quite a distinct look:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_the_Waves