Dancer In The Dark


Bjork, Catherine Deneuve, David Morse, Cara Seymour, Peter Stormare, Vladan Kostic, Siobhan Fallon, Joel Gray. Written and Directed by Lars Von Triers.

Selma (Bjork) is an immigrant from Czechoslovakia who lives in rural Washington State in a small trailer out back of the house of the local police chief Bill (Morse) with her 12-year-old son Gene (Kostic). She works a subsistance level job at a metalworks factory, barely making ends meets and not having enough to buy even a used bike for Gene. On top of this, she is slowly going blind from a hereditary disease that her son also has. Her best friend Cathy (Deneuve) knows of her creeping blindness and tries to cover for her at work, and will explain scenes from the movie musicals to Selma that they see at the local theatre. Movie musicals is the one positive thing in her life - she is rehearsing with the local drama company to play Maria in The Sound Of Music.

Despite the grinding poverty she finds herself in, she strives to save every dollar she can scape together for an operation to fix Gene's eyes, and has managed to save over $2000 so far. Bill, who inherited money but has seen it run out due to his wife Linda's (Seymour) relatively lavish spending habits, is close to losing the house and can't bring himself to tell Linda. He even tells Selma he's thought of killing himself. Instead, he finds Selma's stash, and takes it. Selma confronts Bill and says she must have the money back, and you just know tragedy will result.

Controversial winner of the Palme D'Or for best film at this year's Cannes Film Festival, Dancer In The Dark has been described as a very divisive movie. At the screening I attended in downtown Toronto, there was sporadic applause and a very loud boo at the end. One person yelled for the booing patron to go see some "Hollywood crap" if he didn't like the film. But it is not that simple to explain away someone's dislike of the film and its message (although, that same guy had earlier yelled out and appropriately labelled an overly manipulative National Post commercial as "typical right-wing crap"). One of it's messages is a scathing indictment of capital punishment and the chance of executing an innocent person, and not everyone will appreciate how the film arrives there. The film is relentlessly bleak and often arduous viewing, consistently denying Selma any chance to improve her life, spirally down to the the bitter and heartbreaking end. It's almost as if Von Triers delights in dangling the possibility of hope for Selma out to viewers, and then snatches it away every time. One example - during the trial scene when Selma refuses to reveal the truth that would likely get her off, in a misguided sense of loyalty to Bill and desire to sacrifice herself for her son. Von Triers is the originator of the Dogme 95 manifesto that swore off modern filmmaking techniques like artificial lighting, the use of film studios and the use of quality film and stationary camera setups. While at first the jerky hand-held camera shots, extreme close-ups and grainy film are a bit unsettling, one gets used to it because they give the film a gritty and almost documentary feel appropriate to the circumstances Selma finds herself in.

The musical sequences are the only scenes where he deviates from this minimalist approach. While still using grainy film stock, he uses scores of cameras and outstanding choreography rivalling anything from the musicals of the 30's. While in many movies characters breaking into song in the middle of the action feels severely hokey and forced, it works quite well here because the musical scenes are all Selma's fantasy of how she'd like her life to be. Based on her happy memories of older musicals she saw while in Czechoslovakia and influenced her to come to America, everyone in them is happy, singing and dancing. But after each, we are jarred right back to Selma's harsh life, and her life hasn't improved any. The musical numbers Bjork wrote contain her usual ethereal, haunting music and strongly written lyrics work very well with the themes of the film. She also utilizes the sounds from the factory, the environment and even a train as rhythm instruments. The song "I've Seen It All" is especially good, indicating Selma's denial that losing her sight is of any great importance. Bjork has released versions of seven songs from the film on a CD titled Selmasongs, featuring a beautiful "I've Seen It All" with Radiohead's Thom Yorke, and a haunting "New World".

Bjork, in her first film and reported to have bolted from filming several times only to be coaxed back each time by Von Triers, is put through the emotional wringer. And she is unbelievable in the later scenes, conveying absolute fear and despondancy with amazing intensity. As a very big fan of Bjork and her music, you might believe me to be less than objective in my analysis. And you might be right, except that I did not receive a vote on the Cannes festival jury who named her best actress, and believe me, they were not kidding. From the middle of the film to the end, she is phenominal. Her smiling and sweet Selma is a contrast to the situation she finds herself in - she beautifully projects Selma's child-like and naive persona not unlike the happy, wide-eyed free-spirit she projects in many of her videos. In her dealings with others and despite her struggling existence, she is often more worried about others, from her son's eyes problems to Bill's lack of money. Selma even offers to pay more rent to help Bill out, but the offer is declined by his unknowing wife. The other actors in the film, particularly a drab and sympathetic Deneuve and the reliable Morse, are excellent in support.

This film is not for everyone's taste. It is consistently more and more depressing and there are points near the end where the film drags in Von Trier's attempt to show the numbing loneliness of prison life. It is often hard to watch. There are plot contrivances and judicial inaccuracies that are sometimes annoying. The spartan sets, filming style and downbeat story do not make for light escapist entertainment. Yet when I left the theatre I felt exhiliarated by the intensity of what I'd seen. If you are a fan of Bjork, go see it - you will not be disappointed in her, no matter what you think of the film itself.




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