Dancer in the Dark
An east European girl goes to America with her young son, expecting it to be like a Hollywood film.
- Director:Lars von Trier
- Genre:Drama | Musical
- Runtime:140 minutes
Cast
Björk : Selma Jezkova
Catherine Deneuve : Kathy
David Morse : Bill Houston
Peter Stormare : Jeff
Joel Grey : Oldrich Novy
Official Site:-
The film is set in the U.S. state of Washington in 1964 and focuses on Selma Ježková (Björk), a Czech immigrant who has moved to the United States with her son, Gene Ježek (Kostic). They live a life of poverty as Selma works at a factory with her good friend Kathy, whom she nicknames Cvalda (Deneuve). She rents a trailer home on the property of town policeman Bill Houston (Morse) and his wife Linda Houston (Seymour). She is also pursued by the shy but persistent Jeff (Stormare) who also works at the factory.
What no one in Selma’s life knows is that she has a hereditary degenerative disease which is gradually causing her to go blind. She has been saving up every penny that she makes (in a tin can in her kitchen) to pay for an operation which will prevent her young son from suffering the same fate.
To escape the misery of her daily life Selma accompanies Cvalda to the local cinema where together they watch fabulous Hollywood musicals (or more accurately, Selma listens as Cvalda describes them to her, to the aggravation of the other theater patrons, or acts out the dance steps upon Selma’s hand using her fingers). In her day-to-day life, when things are too boring or upsetting, Selma slips into daydreams or perhaps a trance-like state where she imagines the ordinary circumstances and individuals around her have erupted into elaborate musical theater numbers. These songs, as do many of Björk’s songs, use some sort of real life noise (from factory machines buzzing to the sound of a flag rapping against a flag pole in the wind) as an underlying rhythm.
Unfortunately, Selma slips into one such trance while working at the factory. When her machine breaks she is fired from her job. Soon Jeff and Cvalda begin to realize that Selma can barely see at all. Additionally, Bill reveals to Selma that his materialistic wife, Linda, has exhausted all of his savings and asks Selma for a loan, which she declines to give. He regrets telling Selma his secret, so to comfort Bill, Selma reveals her secret blindness, hoping that together they can share one another’s secret. Bill then hides in the corner of Selma’s home, knowing she can’t see him, and watches as she puts some money in her kitchen tin. Read more
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