''Dancer in the Dark'' is a 2000

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

drama film written and directed by Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier. It stars Icelandic musician

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

as a factory worker who suffers from a degenerative eye condition and is saving for an operation to prevent her young son from suffering the same fate. Catherine Deneuve,

David Morse David Bowditch Morse (born October 11, 1953) is an American actor, singer, television director, and writer. He first came to national attention as Dr. Jack "Boomer" Morrison in the medical drama series ''St. Elsewhere'' (1982–88). His film ca ...

Cara Seymour Cara Seymour (born 6 January 1964) is a British actress from Essex, England. She has appeared in films such as ''You've Got Mail'', '' American Psycho'', ''Adaptation'', ''Dancer in the Dark'', ''Gangs of New York'', ''Hotel Rwanda'', '' The S ...

Peter Stormare Rolf Peter Ingvar Storm (born August 27, 1953), better known as Peter Stormare (), is a Swedish actor who holds both Swedish and American citizenship. He played Gaear Grimsrud in the film '' Fargo'' (1996) and John Abruzzi in the television ser ...

, Siobhan Fallon Hogan and

Joel Grey Joel Grey (born Joel David Katz; April 11, 1932) is an American actor, singer, dancer, photographer and theatre director. He is best known for portraying the Master of Ceremonies in the musical ''Cabaret'' on Broadway as well as in the 1972 fil ...

also star. The soundtrack for the film, ''

Selmasongs ''Selmasongs: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack 'Dancer in the Dark is the first soundtrack album by Icelandic musician Björk. It was released on September 18, 2000, by One Little Indian Records to promote and accompany the film ''Dancer i ...

'', was written mainly by Björk, but a number of songs featured contributions from Mark Bell and some of the lyrics were written by von Trier and

Sjón image:Sjon litteratureXchange-2019 DSC09264.jpg, 260px, Sjón at LiteratureXchange Festival ín Aarhus (Denmark 2019) Sigurjón Birgir Sigurðsson (born 27 August 1962), known as Sjón ( ; ; meaning "sight" and being an abbreviation of his firs ...

. ''Dancer in the Dark'' is the third film in von Trier's "Golden Heart Trilogy", following ''

Breaking the Waves ''Breaking the Waves'' is a 1996 psychological drama film directed and co-written by Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier and starring English stage actress Emily Watson as her feature film acting debut. Set in the Scottish Highlands in the early 197 ...

'' (1996) and ''

The Idiots ''The Idiots'' ( da, Idioterne) is a 1998 Danish dark comedy-drama film written and directed by Lars von Trier. It is his first film made in compliance with the Dogme 95 Manifesto, and is also known as Dogme #2. It is the second film in von Tr ...

'' (1998). It was an international co-production among companies based in thirteen European and North American countries and regions. It was shot with a handheld camera, and inspired by a Dogme 95 look. ''Dancer in the Dark'' premiered at the

2000 Cannes Film Festival The 53rd Cannes Film Festival started on 14 May and ran until 25 May 2000. French film director, screenwriter, and producer Luc Besson was the Jury President. The Palme d'Or went to the Danish film ''Dancer in the Dark'' by Lars von Trier. The fe ...

to standing ovations and polarized reviews from critics, but was nonetheless awarded the Palme d'Or, along with the Best Actress award for Björk. The song "

I've Seen It All "I've Seen It All" is a song recorded by Icelandic singer Björk for the ''Dancer in the Dark'' soundtrack, ''Selmasongs'' (2000). It was written by the singer, along with Sjón and Lars von Trier, who also directed the film. It was released as ...

", with

and von Trier, were nominated for an

Academy Award for Best Original Song The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who have composed th ...

but lost to "

Things Have Changed "Things Have Changed" is a song from the film ''Wonder Boys'', written and performed by Bob Dylan and released as a single on May 1, 2000, that won both the Academy Award for Best Original Song and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. ...

" by Bob Dylan from '' Wonder Boys''.

Plot

In Washington state in 1964, Selma Ježková, a Czech immigrant, has moved to the United States with her 12-year-old son, Gene Ježek. They live a life of poverty as Selma works at a factory with her good friend Kathy, whom she nicknames Cvalda. She rents a trailer home on the property of local police officer Bill Houston and his wife, Linda. She is pursued by the shy but persistent Jeff, who also works at the factory. Selma is gradually losing her vision due to a degenerative eye condition, but is saving money to pay for an operation that will prevent Gene from sharing her fate. She also takes part in rehearsals for a production of '' The Sound of Music'' and accompanies Kathy to the local cinema, where together they watch Hollywood musicals, as Kathy describes them to her. In her day-to-day life, Selma slips into daydreams, imagining herself in a musical ("Cvalda"). Jeff and Kathy begin to realize that Selma's vision is worse than they thought, and that she has been memorizing eye charts in order to pass vision tests and keep her job ("I've Seen it All). Bill reveals to Selma that Linda's excessive spending has put the couple's house in danger of

foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan. Formally, a mortg ...

by their bank. He has contemplated suicide, but cannot bring himself to carry out the act. Selma promises to keep his secret and confides in him about her advancing vision loss. Bill pretends to leave the trailer but stays, knowing that Selma cannot see him, and watches her hide her money in a tin. The next day, Selma accidentally breaks a machine at the factory and is fired from her job. She returns home to add her last wages to the tin, but discovers it to be empty. Realizing that Bill has robbed her, she goes to his house to confront him. Linda accuses Selma of trying to

seduce Seduction has multiple meanings. Platonically, it can mean "to persuade to disobedience or disloyalty", or "to lead astray, usually by persuasion or false promises". Strategies of seduction include conversation and sexual scripts, paralingual ...

her husband, explaining that Bill told her Selma wanted him for his money. Not wanting to reveal her knowledge of the impending foreclosure, Selma ignores Linda and confronts Bill about the theft. They fight over the money, with Bill drawing a gun only to be accidentally shot by Selma. Bill yells for Linda to call the police, saying that Selma has tried to rob him, then begs Selma to kill him, telling her it is the only way she will ever reclaim her stolen money. Selma shoots Bill several times, but only wounds him further due to her poor vision, and finally beats him to death with a safe deposit box once the gun runs out of ammunition. She slips into a trance and imagines that Bill's corpse stands up and slow dances with her ("Scatterheart"). Taking her money back, she flees the house and pays for Gene's operation in advance. Not knowing about the murder, Jeff takes Selma to rehearsal, where her director calls the police to have her arrested ("In the Musicals"). In court, she is accused of being a

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

sympathizer and of pretending to be blind to exploit the American healthcare system. Although she tells as much truth about the situation as she can, she refuses to reveal Bill's secret, saying that she had promised not to. When her claim of sending all her money to her father in Czechoslovakia is proven false, she is convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Kathy and Jeff eventually figure out what happened and get back Selma's money, using it instead to pay for a trial lawyer who can free her. Selma refuses the lawyer, opting to face execution by hanging rather than let her son go blind, but she is deeply distraught as she awaits her death ("107 Steps). As Selma begins crying, Kathy runs in to tell her that the operation was successful and that Gene will see. Relieved, Selma sings a final song on the gallows with no musical accompaniment. The trap door opens and she is hanged before she can finish the last verse, whose lines are displayed as the proceedings conclude.

Cast

Production

The film's title suggests the Fred Astaire/ Cyd Charisse duet " Dancing in the Dark" from the 1953 film '' The Band Wagon'', which ties in with the film's musical theatre theme. Actress

, who is known primarily as a contemporary musician, had rarely acted before, and described the process of making this film as so emotionally taxing that she would not act in any film ever again (although she appeared in

Matthew Barney Matthew Barney (born March 25, 1967) is an American contemporary artist and film director who works in the fields of sculpture, film, photography and drawing. His works explore connections among geography, biology, geology and mythology as well ...

's film installation '' Drawing Restraint 9'' in 2005, and in Robert Eggers' '' The Northman''). Trier and others have described her performance as

feeling Feelings are subjective self-contained phenomenal experiences. According to the ''APA Dictionary of Psychology'', a feeling is "a self-contained phenomenal experience"; and feelings are "subjective, evaluative, and independent of the sensations ...

rather than acting. Björk has said that it is a misunderstanding that she was put off acting by this film; rather, she never wanted to act but made an exception for Lars von Trier. The musical sequences were filmed simultaneously with over 100 digital cameras so that multiple angles of the performance could be captured and cut together later, thus shortening the filming schedule. Björk lies down on a stack of birch logs during the "Scatterheart" sequence. In Icelandic and

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

, "björk" means "birch". A Danish MY class

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...

(owned by Swedish train operator

TÅGAB TÅGAB (Tågåkeriet i Bergslagen AB) is a Swedish railway company with headquarters in Kristinehamn. It was started in 1994 and runs trains in both Sweden and Norway. In 1999, two locomotives (of type SJ T43 and TMY) from the company were pain ...

) was painted in the American

Great Northern Great Northern may refer to: Transport * One of a number of railways; see Great Northern Railway (disambiguation). * Great Northern Railway (U.S.), a defunct American transcontinental railroad and major predecessor of the BNSF Railway. * Great ...

scheme for the movie, and not repainted afterward. A T43 class locomotive was repainted too, though never used in the film.

Style

Much of the film has a similar look to von Trier's earlier Dogme 95-influenced films: it is filmed on low-end, hand-held digital cameras to create a documentary-style appearance. It is not a true Dogme 95 film, however, because the Dogme rules stipulate that violence, non-diegetic music, and period pieces are not permitted. Trier differentiates the musical sequences from the rest of the film by using static cameras and by brightening the colours.

Music

* Original music:

* Singers: Björk, Catherine Deneuve, Siobhan Fallon,

, Edward Ross (for Vladica Kostic),

(In the soundtrack ''

'', Thom Yorke sings instead of Stormare) * Lyrics: Björk, Lars von Trier and

* Non-original music:

Richard Rodgers Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American Musical composition, composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers was one of the most ...

(from ''The Sound of Music'') * Non-original lyrics:

Oscar Hammerstein II Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II (; July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was an American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer, and (usually uncredited) director in the musical theater for almost 40 years. He won eight Ton ...

(from ''The Sound of Music'') * Choreographer:

Vincent Paterson Vincent Paterson (born May 4, 1950) is an American director and choreographer who has had an expansive career in many parts of the entertainment industry including film, Broadway, concert tours, opera, music videos, television and commercials. He ...

Controversy

In October 2017, Björk posted on her Facebook page that she had been sexually harassed by a "Danish film director she worked with". She commented: The '' Los Angeles Times'' found evidence identifying him as Lars von Trier. Von Trier has rejected Björk's allegation that he sexually harassed her during the making of the film ''Dancer in the Dark'', and said "That was not the case. But that we were definitely not friends, that's a fact," to Danish daily '' Jyllands-Posten'' in its online edition.

Peter Aalbæk Jensen Peter Aalbæk Jensen (born 8 April 1956 in Osted) is a Danish film producer who in 1992 with director Lars von Trier founded the Danish film company Zentropa and later its huge studio complex Filmbyen. His father was writer Erik Aalbæk Jensen. ...

, the producer of ''Dancer in the Dark'', told ''Jyllands-Posten'' that "As far as I remember we

ars von Trier and I Ars or ARS may refer to: Places * Ars, Iran, a village in East Azerbaijan Province, Iran * ''Ars'', various communes in France: ** Ars, Charente, in the Charente ''département'' ** Ars, Creuse, in the Creuse ''département'' ** Ars-en-Ré, in ...

were the victims. That woman was stronger than both Lars von Trier and me and our company put together. She dictated everything and was about to close a movie of 100m kroner 16m" After von Trier's statement, Björk explained the details about this incident, saying: Björk's manager, Derek Birkett, has also accused von Trier's actions in the past, stating: '' The Guardian'' later found that Jensen's studio, Zentropa, with which von Trier frequently collaborated, had an endemic culture of sexual harassment. Jensen stepped down from CEO position of Zentropa as further harassment allegations came to light in 2017.

Reception

Critical response

At the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, ''Dancer in the Dark'' earned positive reviews from 69% of 121 critics, with an

average rating In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

of 6.8/10. The critics consensus on the website reads, "''Dancer in Dark'' can be grim, dull, and difficult to watch, but even so, it has a powerful and moving performance from Björk and is something quite new and visionary." According to Metacritic, which assigned the film a weighted average score of 61/100 based on 33 critic reviews, the film received "generally favorable reviews". On ''

The Movie Show ''The Movie Show'' is an Australian film review program which was broadcast on SBS TV. Its history is divided into three parts, until it finally wound up in 2008. History The original format, which ran from 30 October 1986 to 12 May 2004, had ...

'', Margaret Pomeranz gave it five stars while David Stratton gave it a zero, a score shared only by Geoffrey Wright's ''

Romper Stomper ''Romper Stomper'' is a 1992 Australian drama film written and directed by Geoffrey Wright in his feature film directorial debut. The film stars Russell Crowe, Daniel Pollock, Jacqueline McKenzie, Tony Le-Nguyen and Colin Chin. The film tells ...

'' (1992). Stratton later described it as his "favourite horror film". Peter Bradshaw of '' The Guardian'' dubbed ''Dancer in the Dark'' the "most shallow and crudely manipulative" film of 2000, and in 2009 he described it as "one of the worst films, one of the worst artworks and perhaps one of the worst things in the history of the world". The film was praised for its stylistic innovations.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

of the '' Chicago Sun-Times'' stated: "It smashes down the walls of habit that surround so many movies. It returns to the wellsprings. It is a bold, reckless gesture." Edward Guthmann from the '' San Francisco Chronicle'' wrote, "It's great to see a movie so courageous and affecting, so committed to its own differentness." However, criticism was directed at its storyline. Jonathan Foreman of the '' New York Post'' described the film as "meretricious fakery" and called it "so unrelenting in its manipulative sentimentality that, if it had been made by an American and shot in a more conventional manner, it would be seen as a bad joke". Fiachra Gibbons, writing for '' The Guardian'', considered the film to be "the most unusual, extraordinary feel-good musical ever made." In 2016, David Ehrlich ranked ''Dancer in the Dark'' as one of the best films of the 21st century, hailing Björk's performance as the "single greatest feat of film acting" since 2000. Björk's performance is also ranked in the "25 Best Performances Not Nominated for an Oscar of the 21st Century" list.

Box office

It grossed $45.6 million worldwide, including $4.2 million in the United States and Canada. It was number one at the Japanese box office for three weeks.

Accolades

''Dancer in the Dark'' premiered at the

and was awarded the Palme d'Or, along with the

Best Actress award Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress award ...

for Björk. The song "I've Seen It All" was nominated for an

, at the performance of which Björk wore her famous swan dress. '' Sight & Sound'' magazine conducts a poll every ten years of the world's finest film directors to find out the Ten Greatest Films of All Time. This poll has been going since 1952, and has become the most recognised poll of its kind in the world. In 2012, Cyrus Frisch was one of the four directors who voted for ''Dancer in the Dark''. Frisch commented: "A superbly imaginative film that leaves conformity in shambles." Director Oliver Schmitz also lauded the work as "relentless, claustrophobic, the best movie about capital punishment as far as I'm concerned".

References

Bibliography

* Georg Tiefenbach: ''Drama und Regie (Writing and Directing): Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, Dogville.'' Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann 2010. .

External links

* * * *
Review by Sian Kirwan – BBC

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