Review of Dancer in the Dark (2000) by Steff A — 03 Sep 2010

A shocking, groundbreaking, sensational film. Lars von Trier once again breaks the limits of what was thought conceivable in film. He makes the ultimate musical/melodrama in his own fashion. Selma never asked for much.

She is going blind and so is her son. The only thing she asked was a better future for him, so he could see the woman he marries and his grandchildren. So she continues living. There is only one escape and that is singing and dancing.

That was her dream, that's what she tries to live. She doesn't need music just a sound. Any sound. And it stays that way until the last moment of her life. Trier creates a touching and depressing movie that touches the bottom of our bare soul.

Through that Dogmatesque character study he gives a cruel depiction of the world, society and America. Places were a simple-minded girl with a golden heart is lead to her end with her life not spent. Places that will too eagerly execute the weak.

And that goes for all the characters. Justice isn't served in this movie. Not for Selma, not for her betraying friend Bill, not for any of the characters around them. The genious that Trier is combines all the contradicting elements that lead to such a masterpiece in an uncompromising way creating a new kind of musical.

A musical where the music isn't really a part of everyday life but the only way to escape and rise above this mere survival that life is. Once more Trier as an amazing actors' director forges an unforgetable performance for the ages through his star Bjork.

And she repays him by creating the most spellbinding music through the everyday sounds that Selma comes across and of course by giving birth to her forementioned masterful performance. Really a match made in heaven, one of the rare, truly, artistic collaborations.

That being said a table can't stand with only two legs and so the supporting cast has a flawless pressence throughout the movie, whether we talk about the great Cathrine Deneuve, David Morse or even the simplistic role of Peter Stormare, this is a movie that offers some of the greatest performances of the last ten years.

This is another one of these film that everyone must see and at least reject but give it the chance to reveal its many graces.