4/28/02
I finally rented Dancer in the Dark last week, because I'd been wanting to see it for a long time, but I could never find myself in what I felt would be a proper mood to see it (I'd heard very mixed things about it and it's also a bit long). This was Björk's first (and apparently only - rumor has it that she has said she will never do one again) starring role in a movie. She plays Selma, a Czechoslovakian immigrant with a degenerative eye disease that in the course of the film will rob her of her sight. She is working feverishly at a factory for the money to get an operation for her son who suffers from the same condition. She lives with a policeman named Bill(David Morse) and his wife in a trailer on their property. After spending all his inheritance on his wife and not wanting to tell her he's broke, Bill steals her savings (earmarked for her son). This results in his death at Selma's hands (he forces her to kill him so his wife will get the insurance money) and her on death row.
Now the interesting twist on all this is that Selma is obsessed with musicals, and as her life (as well as her sight) gets worse and worse, she imagines herself being in one. Every time she gets into a situation she can't deal with, we're treated to a musical number. I had heard the soundtrack to the movie beforehand and I was looking forward to those scenes because I really liked the soundtrack. The musical numbers all integrate sounds from what's going on around Selma (the noise of factory machinery, the sound of a train going by) to great effect. The music itself, done by Björk, is also very good. However, it falls short in the vocals of everyone besides Björk. The actors seem like they were chosen with no thought to their singing ability, and it shows. In the soundtrack, Björk redoes the songs, either singing all parts herself or bringing in other singers (like Radiohead's Thom Yorke).
The acting in this movie was excellent. Björk's performance was phenomenal, it's heartbreaking to watch her go through everything she does. David Morse did a good job of showing the conflicted man unable to do what he should. Catherine Deneuve did really well as her only real friend, as did Peter Stormare as her oft-rebuffed suitor.
The cinematography was interesting because they use two completely different styles. Most of the movie is shot in a very dull light, and it looks like it was shot with a handheld camera. When Selma disappears into her fantasy musical world, suddenly it's full of vibrant color and the film quality is much better. This was a really nice effect, but the handheld camera type filming was a little too jittery and I had a headache by the end of the film.
Overall, the film was extremely well done. It's a completely unique type of movie, I've never seen anything quite like it. That said, I really don't know if I "liked" the movie. It is depressing as hell, which is not inherently a problem. The musical scenes seem like they're supposed to be uplifting, and they would be, if they were not shown in the context of the movie. When you think about what's actually going on while she's off in fantasy land, it's actually quite horrifying (Especially in the closing scene). Now, this may be what Lars Von Trier was going for, but it's still unsettling. Regardless, I think it definitely falls in the "Must See" category - just don't expect a light-hearted evening.
LinksImages courtesy of Art.com.