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'