Dancer in the Dark

Dancer in the Dark (Bailarina en la oscuridad, in Argentina; or Dancing in Darkness, in Spain, and Dancing in the Darkness in Mexico) is a 2000 Teutodan film directed by Lars von Trier. This English-language musical drama features performances by Icelandic singer Björk as the main lead, followed by Catherine Deneuve, David Morse, Peter Stormare and Joel Grey. It is based on the story of Selma, a daydreaming immigrant worker suffering from a degenerative eye disease who saves to pay for an operation that would prevent her son from suffering the same fate. Ultimately, she will face murder charges and the death penalty.

The film's soundtrack, released as the Selmasongs album, was written primarily by Lars von Trier and Björk, but several songs were contributed by Mark Bell and lyrics by von Trier and Sjón. Three songs from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music were used in the film.

It is the third in the Corazón dorado film trilogy, completed by Breaking the Waves with Emily Watson, and The Idiots; all stories of martyrs for love, whose highest aspiration is to transcend in a cruel and patriarchal world. The film was an international co-production between companies based in thirteen countries and regions: Denmark Finland France Germany Iceland Netherlands Norway Sweden United Kingdom and the United States. It was shot with a handheld camera, and was somewhat inspired by a Dogma 95 skin.

Dancer in the Dark premiered at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival to standing ovations and surrounded by controversy; Awarded the Palme d'Or, along with the Best Actress Award for Björk. The song I've Seen It All, with Thom Yorke, nominated at the Oscars for best song, lost to Things Have Changed, by Bob Dylan. The film polarized critics, seen by some as melodramatic and by others as one of the most important of the 21st century.

Synopsis

In Washington state, Selma Ježková, a Czech immigrant, moved to the United States with her son, Gene Ježek. They live a life of poverty while Selma works in a factory with her good friend Kathy, whom she nicknames Cvalda. She rents a trailer on the property of city policeman Bill Houston and his wife, Linda. She is also pursued by the shy but persistent Jeff, who also works at the factory.

Selma has a degenerative eye disease and is losing her vision. She has been saving to pay for an operation that will prevent the same thing from happening to her son. She also participates in rehearsals for a production of The Sound of Music and accompanies Kathy to the local movie theater, where together they watch fabulous Hollywood musicals, as Cvalda describes them to her.

In her everyday life, Selma slips into dreams. Soon Jeff and Cvalda begin to realize that Selma can barely see anything. Also, Bill reveals to Selma that her materialistic wife spends more than her salary, and that the bank will take her house. To comfort Bill, Selma reveals her eye condition, hoping that together they can keep each other's secret. Bill then hides in the corner of Selma's house, knowing that he can't see him, and watches as she puts some money in the kitchen tin.

The next day, after carelessly breaking a machine the night before, Selma is fired from her job. When she comes home to save her final salary, she discovers that the can is empty; she goes to her side to report the theft to Bill and Linda, only to overhear Linda discussing how Bill has brought home his safe deposit box to count her savings. Knowing that Bill was bankrupt and that the money he is counting must be his, she confronts him and tries to get the money back. He points a gun at her, and in a fight he is wounded. Linda runs to tell the police on Bill's orders. Bill then begs Selma to take his life from her, telling her that this will be the only way she can reclaim the money he stole from her. Selma shoots him several times, but due to blindness she only manages to maim Bill. In the end, she performs a knockout with the safe. Selma falls into a trance and imagines Bill's corpse rising from her and dances with her in a musical number, urging her to run to freedom. She does, and takes the money to the Institute for the Blind to pay for her son's operation before the police can take it from her.

Selma is caught and eventually put on trial. She is accused of sympathizing with communism, and how she murders. She is also accused of faking her blindness to take advantage of the 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. Furthermore, when her assertion that the reason she had no money was because she had been sending it to her father in Czechoslovakia is shown to be false, she is convicted and sentenced. of death. Cvalda and Jeff finally put the pieces of the puzzle together and get Selma's money back, using it to pay off a trial lawyer who can free her from her. Selma is enraged and rebuffs the lawyer, opting to face the death penalty rather than let her son go blind, but she is deeply distraught as she awaits her death. Although a nice prison guard named Brenda tries to comfort her, the other state officials are eager to see her executed. Brenda encourages Selma to walk. At the gallows, she is terrified, so she must be tied to a collapsing board. Her hysteria when she pulls the hood over her face delays her execution. Selma begins to cry hysterically and Brenda cries with her, but Cvalda is quick to inform her that the operation was successful and that Gene will see him. Relieved, Selma sings the final song on the gallows without musical accompaniment, though it is hung up before it is finished.

Cast

• Björk: Selma Ježková
• Catherine Deneuve: Kathy (Cvalda)
• David Morse: Bill Houston
• Peter Stormare: Jeff
• Jean-Marc Barr: Norman
• Joel Grey: Oldřich Nový
• Cara Seymour: Linda Houston
• Siobhan Fallon: Brenda
• Vladica Kostic: Gene Ježek
• Vincent Paterson: Samuel
• Željko Ivanek: District
• Udo Kier: Dr. Pokorný
• Jens Albinus: Morty
• Reathel Bean: Judge
• Michael Flessas
• Mette Berggreen: the receptionist
• Lars Michael Dinesen: Head of Defense
• Katrine Falkenberg: Suzan
• Stellan Skarsgård: Doctor

Production

Filming

Much of the film looks similar to previous ones inspired by von Trier's Dogme 95 movement: It was shot with low-end handheld digital cameras to create a documentary-style look. However, it is not a true Dogme 95 film, because the Dogme rules stipulate that violence, non-diegetic music, and period pieces are not allowed. von Trier differentiates the musical sequences from the rest of the film by using static cameras and lighting colors.

Music

Björk in the 2001 edition of the Oscar Awards, with the swan dress designed by Maryan Peyoski.

The film's background music is snippets from compositions by Sjón and Richard Rodgers (of The Sound of Music). The set list were written by Björk and Lars Von Trier. The choreography for various scenes was planned by Vincent Paterson.

Pair order of appearance in the film:

• Overture (Orchestra)
• My favorite things (Björk, choirs)
• So Long, Farewell (Björk, choirs)
• Cvalda (Björk & Catherine Deneuve)
• I've Seen it All (Björk, Peter Stormare, choirs)
• Smith & Wesson - devenue Scatterheart dans la OST (Björk, David Morse, Vladica Kostic, Cara Seymour)
• Climb Every Mountain (chuckles)
• In the Musicals (Björk, Joel Grey, choirs)
• 107 Steps (Björk, Siobhan Fallon Hogan)
• Next to Last Song (Björk)
• New World (Björk)

Reception

Criticism

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called Dancer in the Dark the "most shallow and crudely manipulative" of 2000, later calling it "one of the worst movies, one of the worst works of art, and perhaps one of the worst things in the history of the world". The response is reflected on the website The film's official website, which posts positive and negative reviews on its front page. The various evaluations result in an overall rating of 69% "Fresh" on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 6.73/10, based on 118 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads: " Dancer in Dark can be bleak, boring and hard to watch, but even so, it has a powerful and moving performance from Björk and is something quite new and visionary'. On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on 33 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Awards and nominations

The film premiered at the 53.er Cannes Film Festival, where was admired and discussed by critics. She won the Palme d'Or and the award for best actress. The song I've Seen It All was nominated for an Oscar for best song. At the presentation, Björk wore her famous swan dress.