Product Details

• Actors: Björk, Catherine Deneuve, David Morse, Peter Stormare, Joel Grey
• Directors: Lars von Trier
• Writers: Lars von Trier
• Producers: Anja Grafers, Els Vandevorst, Finn Gjerdrum, Friđrik ̃ór Friđriksson, Lars Jönsson
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: New Line Home Video
• VHS Release Date: September 11, 2001
• Run Time: 140 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (327 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005LKL7
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #193,120 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Masterpiece or masquerade? Lars von Trier's digicam musical split the critics in two when it debuted at Cannes in 2000. There were those who saw it as a cynical shock-opera from a manipulative charlatan, others wept openly at its scenes of raw emotion and heart-rending intensity. There is, however, no in-between. Dancer in the Dark is that rarest of creatures, a film that dares to push viewers to the limits of their feelings.

In her first and most probably last screen performance (she has foresworn acting after her bruising on-set rows with von Trier), brittle Icelandic chanteuse Björk plays Selma, a Czech immigrant living in a folksy American small town with her young son, Gene. Selma is going blind and so will Gene if she does not arrange an important operation for him. To cover the expense, Selma works every hour she can, cheating on her eye tests so she can keep working at the local factory long after her vision has become too unreliable to work safely. She sublets a house from a local cop, Bill (David Morse), and his wife, Linda (Cara Seymour). When nearly bankrupt Bill asks Selma for a loan, she refuses, but he later returns and steals the money, which she demands back in a furious confrontation. In the ensuing melee, Bill is fatally shot and Selma is arrested and put on trial. Will justice prevail?

Von Trier's passionate, provocative film runs all our emotional resources dry with suspense, giving us occasional flashes into Selma's gold heart and mind with superb song-and-dance numbers she conjures to banish the nightmare (Björk also wrote the score). At some two-and-a-half hours, it's not for lightweights, but anyone bored with today's smug, "ironic" cinema will relish this as an astonishing assault on the senses and a stark reminder of von Trier's uncompromising talent. --Damon Wise

From The New Yorker

The new Lars Von Trier film makes his previous efforts-"Breaking the Waves" and "The Idiots," for example-seem like models of orthodoxy and restraint. Shot in Sweden, it's set in America, or, at least, in an America of Von Trier's own devising. Most of the characters speak with foreign accents, and the heroine-a timid, bespectacled factory worker and single mother named Selma-is played by Björk, the Icelandic pop munchkin. Selma has a congenital eye disease, and she is saving up to pay for an operation for her young son, who will otherwise follow her into blindness. When the money is stolen by a neighbor (David Morse), a vengeful Selma quickly conquers her shyness with the help of a gun, and from there it is a short step to the courtroom and the gallows. The film is unashamedly two-toned, split between a granular authenticity and a stylized gaudiness. Every so often, Selma's predicament becomes so dire that the director decides to make a song and dance about it. The musical scenes-in the factory, on a railroad track, and so forth-have a deliberate, stamping awkwardness, overlaid with Björk's animal wailing. Since the movie showed at Cannes, many viewers have refused to stomach this unhealthy mixture, yet it feels laced with surprising power, and the harshness of the denouement is unfeigned. With Catherine Deneuve as a weary worker in a head scarf, something you don't see every day. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars don't watch with any expectations, April 10, 2001

By 

Peter Imes (Columbus, MS United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dancer in the Dark (DVD)

First of all, I can't even believe this film was made and distributed to so many theaters. Don't get me wrong-- I think it may be one of the best movies I have ever seen, but it is SO much different than anything else I can hardly believe someone picked it up to produce and distribute.

The movie doesn't know if it is a documentary, drama or musical, but somehow it pulls off being all three. The story is that of a Czech immigrant who works and exists only to pay for a surgery to correct in her son a genetic disease that will eventually render him blind. The acting in the entire film is flawless and it is cast perfectly. The camera angles and visuals were stunning and the soundtrack (by Bjork) is enchanting.

I must disagree with other reviewers on a couple of points. The first being that this is a "predictable story" of a character "too weak-willed to defend herself from the forces of 'darkness' enveloping her miserable life". The will of Selma is incredible. Out of guilt from bringing her son into the world, knowing he will inherit the same blinding disease she has, and pure love Selma dedicates her life to saving money to pay for the surgery. She sacrifices everything save occasional viewings of musicals which provide her the sanity she needs to continue. Even when put to the ultimate test- death- she continues. The second point is that there are no happy scenes. Completely false. The sheer beauty of Selma's mission and the musicals she produces in her head define love and happiness respectively. The end of the movie (I won't spoil it for you) is sad but at the same time happy in that Bjork has found her piece after being wronged in so many ways.

The first 20 minutes are painfuly slow, but everything comes together. Wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but if you are a fan of "art" films or Indies, definately watch it.

45 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing as hell, but incredible film, May 25, 2005

By 

C. Copeland "Film Fanatic" (Springfield, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dancer in the Dark (DVD)

Genre: Drama, Musical

Genre Grade: A+

Final Grade: A+

This is possibly the most depressing movie I've ever seen. It rips you apart over and over again, without any hint of a happy ending. It's about as far from cliche Hollywood as can be, something Lars von Trier is known for. Bjork is an incredible, wonderful actress and I'd love to see her in a happier role, but she has sworn she will never be in another movie because of the emotional difficulties caused from her role in this film.

I am warning you, this movie will madden you, sadden you, and depress the hell out of you. I recommend it to audiences who appreciate art films. It is a musical (great way of challenging the sadness of the film), but mostly it is just a drama about losing everything you could possibly lose for the sake of love and compassion.

35 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Triumph, September 20, 2000

By 

Attilla The Honey (Laramie, WY United States) - See all my reviews

"Dancer In The Dark" is the stunning film by Lars von Trier that won this year's Cannes Film Festival and stars Icelandic alterna-pop queen Bjork in her film debut. Set in 1964, Bjork plays a woman from Czechoslovakia named Selma who imagines that she is inside of a Hollywood Musical. This musical is not a happy perfect-world musical as so many others are, but packs a stinging bite and a Sondheim-esque dark side. Early on, the conflicts start piling up: Selma's son will go blind if she can't afford to pay for an operation, and her next door neighbor stals all the money she's been trying to save. Then, she is yanked from an small production of "The Sound Of Music" when she is faced with murder charges, and she winds up in prison.

As Selma's life gets worse and worse, she retreats farther and farther into her musical-comedy daydreams. She imagines that a celebrity is her father and she's not poor; she imagines herself dancing with the man she's accused of killing. Although Bjork's acting is superb, she has said that she does not want to act again. She said she wants to be a "person of the ears", not a "person of the images".

The soundtrack to this film is also done by Bjork. Although the soundtrack its self is rather short (clocking in at a scant 33 minutes), it's lack of duration is made up for in abundance by it's beauty, passion, and intensity. The songs are a strange mix of lush orchestral work and heavy industrial beats. Although it sounds like a strange combination, it is a perfect blend for this film.

As a lover of musical theatre, especially motion picture musicals, it is so refreshing to see a new musical being premiered on the screen that isn't trying to live up to it's own tired broadway run. I mean really, other than "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut" or "Evita", when was the last really great film musical made? "Annie" back in 1982? "Dancer In The Dark" brings a breath of life to this dying genre. I hope it will not be long bfore we as audiences are able to see many more new musicals hitting the silver screen.