Dark Victory

Bjork, von Trier, Deneuve - IFILM exclusive trailer and all the nitty-gritty on the quirky Cannes sensation
by Geoff Meadows / August 14, 2000;

Gotta dance!

Well, it's not quite that kind of musical. But critics hailed Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark as the most audacious and ambitious film of the year after this offbeat riff on Hollywood musicals won top honors at the Cannes Film Festival. But don't take the critics' word for it, judge for yourself with IFILM's exclusive sneak peek at the movie's trailer. The darkly playful and provocative third installment of von Trier's "suffering women" trilogy -- after Breaking the Waves and The Idiots -- grabbed the Cannes' Palme d' Or for von Trier and the Best Actress award for pop singer Bjork in her big-time acting debut/finale (more on that below). Bork plays Selma, a nearly blind Czech factory worker living in America's hinterland, who, while struggling to raise money for an eye operation for her son, is accused of murder and sentenced to death. With her world crumbling, her only freedom lies in the all singin', all dancin' Technicolor world of her imagination. Forget Dead Man Walking, we've got Dead Woman Singing. Yet, strange as it may sound, offscreen melodrama nearly upstaged the movie at Cannes, particularly the high-profile rift between Bjork and von Trier that became sort of the art-film equivalent of the WWF. Von Trier, at one point in the production called Bjork "a mad woman," and said he feared that the intense nature of their collaboration would destroy his career and his marriage. Bjork, having thrown herself completely into the role, was rumored to stomp off the set, only to return to shred von Trier's T-shirt with her teeth. The pair's frosty relationship seemed on the mend at Cannes, when von Trier pledged in his acceptance speech, "Though I know she doesn't believe me, if you meet her, tell her I love her very much." Whereupon Bjork, who dodged the press throughout the festival, emerged from behind the curtain to give the auteur a paparazzi size hug. Obviously, Dancer in the Dark, which co-stars French movie idol Catherine Deneuve (as a punch press operator!) is no gentle homage. Von Trier -- who co-founded the "Dogma '95" film movement that shuns Hollywood trappings - found enormous defiant pleasure in reinventing the musical. Snubbing traditional celluloid, he shot Dancer completely on digital video. And when it came to the seven eye-popping musical numbers, a whopping 100 specially rigged cameras were utilized to give Bjork's star-warbling that zingy wide-screen effect. Despite Bjork's momentary solidarity with von Trier at Cannes and all the astounding kudos for her acting, the singer insists that Dancer in the Dark will bring down the curtain on her movie career -- though she will take an additional bow when the movie opens the New York Film Festival in September. Bjork, who did Dancer's music and is currently at work on her next CD, explains it this way: "I only have 50 years left, and I've got a lot of records to make… For the four months of shooting, I felt like a fish out of water because I had been too much in the world of words and too little in the world of song. My journey is complete." In other words, while anticipation is building for this ambitious and acclaimed little movie, don't hold your breath for the sequel