Dancer In The Dark

YK’s 2-Cents: 

This movie is Lars von Trier's attempt to add musical to his repertoire and Björk's attempt to add acting to hers.  It was a success for both at Cannes in 2000.


Violence warning: not much by today's standard, unless you count the shock at the end 


Weepie Warning:?  depends on how crazy you are about Björk 



Well, I only get to watch it as a re-screening of von Trier movies in Copenhagen's Cinemateket. Almost every Dane I knew had already watched it.  Most warned about how touching and heart-breaking it was (coming mostly from females) and how they bet I will cry (coming from males).  While I liked how the ending was 'imperfect' in the eyes of most people (btw keep your eye peeled for the shock factor) - my eyes stayed dry.   Come on, must all movie endings be uplifting?  Perhaps an inspiring or thought-provoking ending will be better.


In fact I do suspect that dark humor was deliberately scattered in the movie, like in the scene with Selma trying to get back her money from Bill.  I will just mention that I couldn't resist chuckling slightly during that scene.  Don't forget, most people think like Selma 

- 'In a musical, nothing dreadful ever happens' - OH REALLY?

Casting of Catherine Deneuve seemed to be just to lend star power.  Despite her good acting, I just find her way too elegant for a migrant factory worker.  While the casting of Björk as 'the dancer in the dark' was brilliant, and her acting befit this movie, I am after all not a fan of Björk and will never be.  I really don't care about her Best Actress Awards at Cannes and other Film Festivals,  nor the Oscar nomination for best song  "I've Seen It All", nor her famous/notorious swan dress.  Her out-of-breath shrills in some scene can get quite irritating and patience-testing at times, here's a small sampling of what I mean: 

Lars Von Trier likes to do trilogies and this musical (2000) - together with 'Breaking the Waves' (1996) and 'The Idiots' (1998) form the 'Golden Heart Trilogy', about naive heroines who maintain their 'golden hearts' despite the tragedies they experience.  I think it's just typical Von Trier's idea of making it as grueling as possible to test his lead actresses limits, as can be seen in movies outside the 'Golden Heart Trilogy', like 'Dogville', 'Mandalay', 'Antichrist'.


Much as I wanted to complete this trilogy, there was no re-screening of 'The Idiots'.  I was also told by the locals that it is even more 'experimental' than the experimental musical 'Dancer in the Dark'; and even though the movie is in their mother tongue Danish, hardly any Dane recommended it.


But I will most definitely recommend 'Breaking the Waves'.
And I completed my own 'Von Trier in Copenhagen Trilogy' with 'Antichrist'

Breaking The Waves

YK’s 2-Cents:    

Violence warning: 

Sexuality, Nudity warning: Yes, oh, YES

Weepie warning: 

Let's first fast forward to what happened to me at the end of the movie.  When I left the cinema, I had to stagger across the road on wimpy knees to Kongens Have (The King's Garden), and quickly sat on the grass by the lavender bushes (Thanks to the king's gardeners for the lovely lavenders in the summer of 2009!), trying to recover from the exhaustion of crying too much.  

I simply couldn't understand the effect this film had on me, so I text-messaged a male friend who had watched it back in late 90s - if he remembered crying at all.  He replied that he did felt tears on his face.  This movie will not even rank in my top 10 favorites, but like him, I will never forget the tears I shed.

'God give everyone something they can be good at. 

I've always been stupid, but I'm good at this ... ... I can believe.'

Yes, I must stress it's the female protagonist's infinite capacity at believing and trusting, in God, that is.  At the onslaught of hard hitting waves, is there still something within your control to break the waves?

This is the first movie in Lars Von Trier's 'Golden Heart Trilogy', about naive heroines who maintain their 'golden hearts' despite the tragedies they experience.  

This story is too complex for a synopsis.  But I'll try anyway.  

Emily Watson plays the ultimate naive Bess McNeil, who lives in a Scottish coastal town ruled by the religious doctrine of its council of elders.  She marries the out-of-towner oil-rig worker Jan (played by Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård) who can't wait to give her a lot of crash courses in sex.  When Jan has to leave for work on the oil rig, she prayed to God to bring him back immediately.  Sure enough, God answered her prayer!  Jan was soon home - but paralyzed from the neck down after a freak oil-rig accident.  Just as she has read God's will for her choice of husband, she believed it was her fault that God answered her prayer.

Here's where it gets a bit like 'The Gift of the Magi’ - the best of intentions, the worst of sacrifices - just a lot more brutal.  Unable to fulfill his new wife sexually, Jan told Bess to have sex with other men.  To ensure that his wife gets back to a 'normal' sex life, she has to recount the sexual experience to him.  This gives Bess an idea of what she can use to convince her most trusted God for a miracle for Jan to recover – something she’s good at, so she believes.  

I love the way the camera's angle was taken such that the audience shares God's view: 

• Admiring his own creations

Note how every chapter-breaks resembled Christian scenery portraits, accompanied by 70s music.  It's a good break from today's CGI effects.  

• Looking down from above, judging

God's last judgment can be seen in one of the most inspiring endings – the part where I burst into uncontrollable tears.  It was a complex feeling of hope from the closure after all the brutal bleakness, all because a simple girl simply believes.  

I stayed in my seat to cry my heart out over the ending.  When I had to leave the cinema, I continued crying in the toilet.  It was a good crying session because at that point in my life, I was working in a place with no God, and as punishment for my attempts to break the waves, the organization's management see to it that I receive no closure.  Unlike Bess, I wasn't very good at believing or make-believing.  Alas, the real life is very different from the one where Lars Von Trier plays God.

In my opinion, Emily Watson remains Lars Von Trier's best find in a female lead - and not that the rest his female leads are shabby.  But I can hardly think of a more memorable performance from another actress than Watson as Bess.  

If you don't mind some violence and nudity, and you are not the most die-hard atheist, and you haven't had a good cry for a long while, and you still want to feel hope at the end of all the crying, then definitely watch his movie.  

Btw, my all time most heart wrenching tear jerking movie is still 'Hachikô monogatar'