The final installment in Lars von Trier's Golden Heart trilogy (which includes BREAKING THE WAVES and THE IDIOTS), DANCER IN THE DARK takes the director's original blend of heightened pseudorealism, fabricated melodrama, and the priciples of the Dogme 95 genre to a dangerously intense level. The story concerns Selma (Björk), a Czech immigrant living in 1964 Washington State with her 12-year-old son, Gene (Vladan Kostic). On the verge of blindness, Selma spends her days working in a factory, as well as performing other odd jobs, in order to save up enough money to pay for an operation that will cure Gene of the same disease. To pass the time, Selma fantasizes that her own life is a musical, one in which her friends join her in sweeping song-and-dance routines. After her neighbor Bill (David Morse) discovers Selma's hidden savings and steals them from her, she is forced to perform an act of salvation that will condemn her forever. As the innocent Selma, Björk is one of the most fragile and heartbreaking presences the screen has ever seen. Her unbearably moving performance is enough to keep the viewer mesmerized throughout, even amid the story gaps and inconsistencies. Featuring compassionate supporting turns by Catherine Deneuve and Peter Stormare, DANCER IN THE DARK is an unrelenting gut punch that will have sympathetic audiences quivering with uncontrollable emotion.
Theatrical release: September 23, 2000 Shot on location primarily in Denmark, at the Zentropa Films studio. Lars von Trier's film, which won the prestigious Palme d'Or at the 2000 Cannes Festival as well as Best Actress award for Björk's performance, was the opening night selection for the 2000 New York Film Festival. Von Trier was unfamiliar with Björk when he first conceived the idea for his melodramatic musical, but after being introduced to her he rewrote the story to better fit her as an individual (including the introduction of Selma's adolescent son). DANCER IN THE DARK was filmed in Sweden and Denmark, although it is set in Washington State in the United States and is in English. About the experience of shooting the film Björk said, "I hated it," claiming she would never make another film. Lars von Trier said, "Though I know she doesn't believe me, I love her very much." Most of their fights were not over acting but over the soundtrack; Björk had written songs (known as SELMASONGS) for the movie, but the sound editors had, in Björk's words, "chopped my tunes!" She actually walked off the set for four days in protest before coming back and gaining complete control over her music. Björk's video for "It's Oh So Quiet" (directed by Spike Jonze) served as inspiration for von Trier in writing the movie with Björk in mind for the lead role. The National Board of Review, Paul Tatara of cnn.com, John Anderson of Newsday, Ed Halter of the New York Press, and the Second Annual Village Voice Film Critics' Poll named DANCER IN THE DARK one of the 10 best films of 2000; Desson Howe of the Washington Post and Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly named it the best film of 2000. The National Board of Review awarded Björk Outstanding Dramatic Musical Performance for her role in DANCER IN THE DARK; the Online Film Critics Society awarded her Best Cinematic Breakthrough. Björk was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture--Drama. Björk, Lars von Trier, and Sjon Sigurdsson were nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Song--Motion Picture for the song "I've Seen It All." No film of 2000 sparked more artistic controversy than DANCER IN THE DARK; in addition to making myriad top 10 lists and winning the Palme d'Or at Cannes, the film was named the worst film of the year by the Guardian Limited (UK) and other sources.
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Dancer In The Dark
