Dancer in the Dark Movie Review 1999

A love it or hate it production from Danish provocateur Von Trier. Czech immigrant Selma (Bjork) is a single mom working in a small factory, where her best friend is another immigrant, Kathy (Deneuve). Selma is also close to her landlords Bill and Jean (Morse, Seymour) but tells no one that she's going blind, a fate her son will also suffer unless he gets an expensive operation. Then the money Selma has been saving is stolen and she accuses the bankrupt Bill, leading to tragedy. It sounds clear enough but mixed up in the story is Selma's participation in an amateur production of "The Sound of Music" and her numerous musical fantasies. Exteriors were filmed in Sweden and interiors in a Danish studio, although it's set in rural America.

Distribution

Warner Home Video, Inc., 5775 Linder Canyon Rd., Westlake Village, CA 91362, URL: http://whv.warnerbros.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 141 minutes.
Originally from Danish, Swedish, French.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Blindness, Single Parents, Immigration, Musical Fantasy, Order in the Court

Screenplay

Lars von Trier

Cast

Bjork, Catherine Deneuve, David Morse, Peter Stormare, Cara Seymour, Joel Grey, Vincent Paterson, Vladica Kostic, Jean-Marc Barr, Udo Kier, Zeljko Ivanek

Cinematography

Robby Muller

Director

Lars von Trier

Music

Bjork

Awards

Cannes 2000: Actress (Bjork), Film; Ind. Spirit 2001: Foreign Film.