Written and Directed by:  Lars von Trier
Starring:  Björk, David Morse, Catherine Deneuve, Peter Stormare, Udo Kier, Jean-Marc Barr
 

February 15, 2001

        When I first saw Lars von Trier’s Breaking the Waves, it haunted me for days.  I even had a weird nightmare with Emily Watson falling to her death.  I don’t remember the last time a film affected me so much…until now with von Trier’s new film Dancer in the Dark. 
         Lars von Trier likes to take the audience on an emotional roller coaster.  He wants you to identify with the main character right off the bat, so when she begins her decent, you will live it with her.  To add to that, he writes strong female characters, which are so rare in Hollywood today.
         Dancer in the Dark follows Selma, a factory worker who’s going blind.  She has a love of musicals and the film opens with her rehearsing for the lead in The Sound of Music.  The song, “My Favorite Things,” later comforts her in her despair.
         What’s interesting is how Von Trier comments on musicals through the characters of Bill (Morse) and Jeff (Stormare).  Bill is the one who identifies with Selma with his like of musicals, and Jeff the one who doesn’t understand them.  Later, the relationship between Selma and these characters changes. 
         The whole film is Von Trier’s offering to the American musical.  Instead of being uplifting and cheery, the musical is all in Selma’s head; it’s all her fantasy.  Selma is caught in a fantasy world, just like musicals themselves are fantasies. 
         Dancer also marks Björk’s first starring role in a film, and she portrays Selma with a realism that matches Emily Watson’s Bess.  Catherine Deneuve also stands out as Selma’s friend, Kathy.  But of course the highlight of the film is Von Trier’s style, filming it in digital, and the jump cut editing to get us through a scene. 
         Dancer in the Dark is great for the same reasons it will throw off many audiences. It’s not the typical Hollywood film.  It doesn’t have an outright happy ending.  It’s a film that makes you think, makes you question what’s dear, and what’s worth fighting for.  And of course it makes a statement against capitol punishment, which films before have done, like Dead Man Walking and The Green Mile, but not with as much class as Dancer.

Recommended Alternatives:  Breaking the Waves (d: Von Trier)

-(Reviewed in Theater) On Video & DVD 

Check out these other Fidelio Film reviews:

The Big Blue: Director's Cut
Cannibal!  The Musical
Chicago
The Green Mile
The Life of David Gale