Dancer in the Dark

Dancer in the Dark (2000), a musical by director Lans von Trier, is a fabulous but utterly depressing movie. It tells the story of a single-parent, Selma (played by Björk), trying to raise her son who suffers from a hereditary eye condition. Selma also suffers from the sickness and is nearly blind herself. While she was able to hid the seriousness of her condition, the extend of her blindness becomes known and her job and therefore her son’s future hangs in the balance. An unfortunate turn of events takes this already sad story and catapults it into a horrific tragedy.

As a Björk fan, I thoroughly appreciated this musical. Björk’s ability to play with sound transforms the movie into a surreal space – altering ordinary dreary scenes (a factory, a train, a prison) into musical wonderlands. Apart from her music, Björk’s acting as a blind, but determined mother, is superb.

Lans von Trier is a splendid writer and director. Dancer in the Dark is the type of movie that follows a person – haunts a person. It is undoubtedly one of the best films I’ve ever seen. Although I would like to see it again, I’ve never had the emotional strength to do so. This movie is more than catharsis – it forces one to see the world for what it is: unfair and yes, even hopeless.

I saw Dancer in the Dark shortly after having had to come to terms with the unfairness of life myself, having lost a number of people close to me. This is probably another reason why this movie affected me so.