Dancer in the Dark
Reviews
FrontrunnerParis
Dazzling Björk in this indictment against the death sentence, in tight close-ups. This film is a UFO, musical without being.
badelf
I have tremendous respect for Lars von Trier's work, and I deeply admire his courage in attempting to fuse drama with musical theater. "Dancer in the Dark" is nothing if not audacious. Unfortunately, ambition alone doesn't make a successful film, and this one fails both as a drama and as a musical. As drama, the film stumbles on two fundamental levels. First, the handheld, shaky camera movement is completely unnecessary. Von Trier broke other Dogme 95 rules throughout this film, so why cling to this one annoying restriction? The constant jittering ruins suspension of disbelief, pulling us out of the story when we should be immersed in Selma's tragedy. Second, and more damning, there's no redeeming value to the bleak outcome. What have we learned? This is Greek tragedy without the moral lesson—the protagonist dies, and we're left with nothing but emptiness. Catharsis requires meaning, and "Dancer in the Dark" offers none. As a musical, it fares no better. Musicals, even dark ones, require some happiness, continuity, or saving grace. The genre demands transcendence, a moment where song lifts us beyond suffering. Here, there is none. That said, Björk does a tremendous job with what she's given, and casting Joel Grey in the final courtroom musical number was absolutely brilliant, a meta-theatrical stroke that acknowledges the genre's history while subverting it. But brilliance in moments doesn't rescue a fundamentally flawed film. "Dancer in the Dark" is an admirable failure.
CinemaSerf
You get a clue as to the slightly surreal nature of the drama right from a start that sees Björk and Catherine Deneuve doing their own amateur dramatics rehearsals of “The Sound of Music”! It turns out that the former, “Selma”, is a Czech immigrant to the USA who is suffering from a progressive blindness that she has passed on to her young son. She knows that he still has time to have corrective surgery, but she has to earn the cash to pay for that so works at a tool assembly plant and saves every cent she can. She has a small group of friends, mainly just “Kathy” (Deneuve) and “Jeff” (Peter Stormare) who would like to develop their relationship despite her obvious, though always polite, reluctance. It might be that she could have achieved her goal but for a violent altercation with “Bill” (David Morse) that sees her facing a criminal trial. Now we know what happened, and I suspect we would all be shouting the best course of action from the auditorium, but will “Selma” listen to anyone? Why? Well she has a rather unique psychological recourse when the going gets tough. She imagines that the scenario is to feature in a piece of musical theatre - and, of course, we know that the joyous lyrics and perfectly choreographed dancing will always provide for an happy ending. What chance here, though? Aside from her singing prowess, Björk also presents us with a character that is simultaneously confident and vulnerable at the same time. “Selma” is shy yet outgoing, she has a determination to see her son gets his treatment at all costs, but still has time to dream of being “Maria” (as in Julie Andrews). Now I didn't love the jarring, hand-held, photography; there is a curious frostiness to the look of the film - despite the glowing efforts from the underused Deveuve and I can’t pretend that I fully grasped quite why the dispute with “Bill” followed the path it did, but I still found I cared for this young woman and about what happened to her as her declining sight seemed to become symbolic of something more, something quite sad. It does take it’s time, but there is some humour wrapped up in this frequently quite dark analysis of not just human spirit and resilience but of 1960s small town America. Perhaps singing “My Favourite Things” does work?
Movie Recommendation
Breaking the Waves1996-07-05In a small, conservative Scottish village, an oilman is paralyzed in an accident. His wife, who prayed for his return, feels guilty; even more, when he urges her to have sex with another.More...
Dogville2003-05-21A woman on the run from the mob is reluctantly accepted in a small Colorado community in exchange for labor, but when a search visits the town, she learns that their support has a price.More...
The Idiots1998-04-28A group of people gather at a Copenhagen suburban home to break all the limitations and to bring out the 'inner idiot' in themselves.More...
The Five Obstructions2003-11-07In 1967, experimental filmmaker Jorgen Leth created a striking short film, The Perfect Human, starring a man and women sitting in a box while a narrator poses questions about their relationship and humanity. Years later, Danish director Lars von Trier made a deal with Leth to remake his film five times, each under a different set of circumstances and with von Trier's strictly prescribed rules. As Leth completes each challenge, von Trier creates increasingly further elaborate stipulations.More...
The Dark2005-09-28In an attempt to pull her family together, Adèlle travels with her young daughter Sarah to Wales to visit her father. The morning after they arrive, Sarah mysteriously vanishes in the ocean. Not long after, a little girl bearing a striking resemblance to their missing daughter reveals that she has retuned from the dead — and that Sarah has been taken to the Welsh underworld.More...
Performance1970-08-03In underworld terms, Chas Devlin is a 'performer,' a gangster with a talent for violence and intimidation. Turner is a reclusive rock superstar. When Chas and Turner meet, their worlds collide—and the impact is both exotic and explosive.More...
Antichrist2009-05-20A grieving couple retreats to their cabin 'Eden' in the woods, hoping to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage. But nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse.More...
Melancholia2011-05-26Two sisters find their already strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide with Earth.More...
The Piano Teacher2001-09-05Erika Kohut, a sexually repressed piano teacher living with her domineering mother, meets a young man who starts romantically pursuing her.More...
Departures2008-09-13Daigo, a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for work with departures of a more permanent nature – as an undertaker’s assistant.More...
You Can Count on Me2000-11-17A single mother's life is thrown into turmoil after her struggling, rarely-seen younger brother returns to town.More...
The Sweet Hereafter1997-09-25A small mountain community in Canada is devastated when a school bus accident leaves more than a dozen of its children dead. A big-city lawyer arrives to help the survivors' and victims' families prepare a class-action suit, but his efforts only seem to push the townspeople further apart. At the same time, one teenage survivor of the accident has to reckon with the loss of innocence brought about by a different kind of damage.More...
Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed2013-10-31Spain, 1966. An English teacher who travels to Almería when he hears that John Lennon is making a film there befriends with a 16-year-old boy who has run away from home and a young girl who also seems to be running away from something.More...
Trophy Wife2010-11-10In 1977 France, tightfisted factory owner Robert Pujol is so shocked when his workers strike for higher wages that he suffers a heart attack. His acquiescent wife, Suzanne, whose father had founded the factory, takes over management duties during Robert's convalescence.More...
The Million Dollar Hotel2000-02-09A federal agent searches for a potential killer among the bizarre residents of a dilapidated Los Angeles hotel.More...
Family United2013-09-13Five siblings gather to celebrate a wedding at their family estate on the day Spain plays the final of the 2010 World Cup.More...
Party Monster2003-09-05The New York club scene of the 80s and 90s was a world like no other. Into this candy-colored, mirror ball playground stepped Michael Alig, a wannabe from nowhere special. Under the watchful eye of veteran club kid James St. James, Alig quickly rose to the top... and there was no place to go but down.More...
Us and Them2018-04-28Ten years ago, on a train home during the busy Spring Festival travel period, fate brings Xiaoxiao and Jianqing together. Like many young couples, they meet, fall in love, and strive to make it work, but eventually, the harsh realities of life make them drift apart. Ten years later, they run into each other again. Will they make the most of this second chance and rekindle what they once lost?More...
The Endless Summer1966-06-15Bruce Brown's The Endless Summer is one of the first and most influential surf movies of all time. The film documents American surfers Mike Hynson and Robert August as they travel the world during California’s winter (which, back in 1965 was off-season for surfing) in search of the perfect wave and ultimately, an endless summer.More...
The Element of Crime1984-05-14Fisher, an ex-detective, decides to take one final case when a mysterious serial killer claims the lives of several young girls. Fisher, unable to find the culprit, turns to Osbourne, a writer who was once respected for his contributions to the field of criminology. Fisher begins to use Osbourne's technique, which involves empathizing with serial killers; however, as the detective becomes increasingly engrossed in this method, things take a disturbing turn.More...
Similar Movies
Edward Scissorhands
1990-12-07A small suburban town receives a visit from a castaway unfinished science experiment named Edward.The Party
1980-12-17A thirteen-year-old French girl deals with moving to a new city and school in Paris, while at the same time her parents are getting a divorce.K-PAX
2001-10-26Prot is a patient at a mental hospital who claims to be from a far away planet. His psychiatrist tries to help him, only to begin to doubt his own explanations.The Fisher King
1991-09-20Two troubled men face their terrible destinies and events of their past as they join together on a mission to find the Holy Grail and thus to save themselves.The Interpreter
2005-04-08After Silvia Broome, an interpreter at United Nations headquarters, overhears plans of an assassination, an American Secret Service agent is sent to investigate.The Good German
2006-12-15An American journalist arrives in Berlin just after the end of World War Two. He becomes involved in a murder mystery surrounding a dead GI who washes up at a lakeside mansion during the Potsdam negotiations between the Allied powers. Soon his investigation connects with his search for his married pre-war German lover.A Clockwork Orange
1971-10-28In a near-future Britain, young Alexander DeLarge and his pals get their kicks beating and raping anyone they please. When not destroying the lives of others, Alex swoons to the music of Beethoven. The state, eager to crack down on juvenile crime, gives an incarcerated Alex the option to undergo an invasive procedure that'll rob him of all personal agency. In a time when conscience is a commodity, can Alex change his tune?Lucky Number Slevin
2006-02-24Slevin is mistakenly put in the middle of a personal war between the city’s biggest criminal bosses. Under constant watch, Slevin must try not to get killed by an infamous assassin and come up with an idea of how to get out of his current dilemma.Sin City: A Dame to K...
2014-08-20Some of Sin City's most hard-boiled citizens cross paths with a few of its more reviled inhabitants.Trouble in Paradise
1932-10-30Thief Gaston Monescu and pickpocket Lily are partners in crime and love. Working for perfume company executive Mariette Colet, the two crooks decide to combine their criminal talents to rob their employer. Under the alias of Monsieur Laval, Gaston uses his position as Mariette's personal secretary to become closer to her. However, he takes things too far when he actually falls in love with Mariette, and has to choose between her and Lily.Hotel Rwanda
2004-12-22Inspired by true events, this film takes place in Rwanda in the 1990s when more than a million Tutsis were killed in a genocide that went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world. Hotel owner Paul Rusesabagina houses over a thousand refuges in his hotel in attempt to save their lives.Dead Poets Society
1989-06-02At an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize the potential of every day, courting the disdain of the stern headmaster.Arsenic and Old Lace
1944-09-01Mortimer Brewster, a newspaper drama critic, playwright, and author known for his diatribes against marriage, suddenly falls in love and gets married; but when he makes a quick trip home to tell his two maiden aunts, he finds out his aunts' hobby - killing lonely old men and burying them in the cellar!Volver
2006-03-17A resourcefull working-class woman living in Madrid gets her hands dirty in family secrets with the help of a teenage daughter and hairdresser sister.East of Eden
1955-04-10In the Salinas Valley in and around World War I, Cal Trask feels he must compete against overwhelming odds with his brother for the love of their father. Cal is frustrated at every turn, from his reaction to the war, how to get ahead in business and in life, and how to relate to his estranged mother.Rebel Without a Cause...
1955-10-27After moving to a new town, troublemaking teen Jim Stark is supposed to have a clean slate, although being the new kid in town brings its own problems. While searching for some stability, Stark forms a bond with a disturbed classmate, Plato, and falls for local girl Judy. However, Judy is the girlfriend of neighborhood tough, Buzz. When Buzz violently confronts Jim and challenges him to a drag race, the new kid's real troubles begin.Man of Marble
1977-02-25A young Polish filmmaker sets out to find out what happened to Mateusz Birkut, a bricklayer who became a propaganda hero in the 1950s but later fell out of favor and disappeared.Man of Iron
1981-07-27In Warsaw in 1980, the Communist Party sends disgruntled radio reporter Winkel to Gdańsk to dig up dirt on the shipyard strikers - particularly on Maciek Tomczyk, an independent labour union leader whose father was killed in the December 1970 protests. Posing as sympathetic, Winkel interviews the people surrounding Tomczyk, including his detained wife, Agnieszka.Boys Don't Cry
1999-09-02A young transgender man explores his gender identity and searches for love in rural Nebraska.Muriel's Wedding
1994-09-29Socially awkward Muriel Heslop wants nothing more than to get married. Unfortunately, due to her oppressive politician father, Muriel has never even been on a date. Ostracized by her more socially adept friends, Muriel runs into fellow outcast Rhonda Epinstalk, and the two move from their small Australian town to the big city of Sydney, where Muriel changes her name and begins the arduous task of redesigning her life to match her fantasies.