Dancer in the Dark
DK 2000, 140 Min., Drama/Tragedy/Musical
Director: Lars von Trier
with: Björk, Catherine Deneuve, Stellan Skarsgård
From “Nymphomaniac” director Lars von Trier, outstandingly moving. Awarded 19 times, nominated once for the Oscar.
Selma (Björk) lives in 60s America, loves musicals and is almost blind. To spare her son from blindness, she saves every penny she earns in the city's desolate factory. Meanwhile, she dreams herself in an extra-world because in musicals “nothing terrible ever happens”. When the money is stolen from her, she finds herself in a tragic situation, in which someone dies and she is called to account.
In “Dancer in the Dark”, von Trier distorts the genre of musical beyond recognition and lets us partake in Selma's relentless fight against fate and injustice. Björk's music hits us right in the heart. Tragic and moving at the same time. Not for the faint of heart.