Anise Starr's Blog: Movies, Books, & Other Musings.

Dancer in the Dark is a stirring and touching film by Lars von Trier. Prior to watching it, I was aware of the notable discord between von Trier and Bjork. Their working relationship was extremely strained to the point where Bjork repeatedly told von Trier how much she hated him and even spit at him. I wondered if and how their feuding had affected the film. When I watched it though I was pleased to see that there was no noticeable negativity at all, as a matter of fact I cannot imagine the film with anyone other than Bjork in the lead role. I like Dancer in the Dark, very much, it is a very emotionally powerful film but I must say that it can leave the viewer feeling quite overwhelmed.

Set in Washington state in 1964, Dancer in the Dark revolves around Selma, a Czechoslovakian immigrant. Selma is a very sweet but naive and trusting woman, almost childlike. She is stricken with a disease that is causing her to lose her eyesight. She has a 12-year old son who has inherited her disease and will eventually lose his sight also, but he does not know that he is ill because Selma cannot bear to tell him. She feels very guilty because she knew that her child would inherit her illness but she had him anyway because she wanted desperately to have a baby to hold and to love. The good news is that there is an operation that could save her son's eyesight but it is very expensive. Selma works in a factory that makes sinks and sells handmade cards on the side in order to raise money for her son's operation.

Selma's eyesight becomes worse and worse until she becomes legally blind. She does not want anyone to know because she knows that she would lose her factory job but she wants to continue in order to make enough money for the operation. Her job becomes dangerous as she works with the steel presses. Since she cannot see what she is doing, she threatens to wreck the machines by overloading them. Luckily for Selma, her concerned friend and co-worker Kathy looks out for her and tried to keep her out of trouble. Selma loves hollywood musicals and in order to escape her bleak life, she creates elaborate musical numbers in her head and sings and dances in her fantasies.

Selma lives in a trailer that she rents from well off couple, Bill and Linda Houston. The trailer is located in the Houston's yard and Selma has become friendly and close to them, especially Bill. Bill is a police officer who has serious financial issues which he keeps hidden from his wife. He commits a disastrous act of desperation that has tragic consequences. That is all that I will reveal about the story.

Although Dancer in the Dark is not technically a Dogme 95 style film, it does utilize some of the elements, such as the use of hand held cameras and it works very effectively with the story. Some viewers might find the shaky hand held camera work dizzying. Lars von Trier nicely contrasts Selma's grim life with her fanstasy life by using rich colors and elaborate camera work in her musical numbers as opposed to the stark hand held camera and dreary almost colorless footage of her reality. There were great performances in this film. I was particularly impressed with Bjork's performance as Selma. She was so convincing and realistic, it is as if she became Selma. Her troubles with von Trier aside, they obviously did something right. I also liked the performance by Katherine Deneuve as Kathy, Selma's loyal friend. I was also pleasantly surprised to see a cameo by Joel Grey, one of my favorite musical actors. Dancer in the Dark gives an emotional powerhouse punch, and it could leave the viewer a bit stunned.

Tags: bjork, dancer in the dark, joel grey, lars von trier
Currently Feeling: drained