Dancer in the Dark (2000)

An East European girl travels to the United States with her young son, expecting it to be like a Hollywood film.

Director:

Lars von Trier (as Lars Von Trier)

Writer:

Lars von Trier (as Lars Von Trier)

Stars:

Björk, Catherine Deneuve, David Morse

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 35 wins & 47 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Björk	...	Selma Jezkova
Catherine Deneuve	...	Kathy
David Morse	...	Bill Houston
Peter Stormare	...	Jeff
Joel Grey	...	Oldrich Novy
Cara Seymour	...	Linda Houston
Vladica Kostic	...	Gene Jezkova
Jean-Marc Barr	...	Norman
Vincent Paterson	...	Samuel
Siobhan Fallon Hogan	...	Brenda (as Siobhan Fallon)
Zeljko Ivanek	...	District Attorney
Udo Kier	...	Dr. Porkorny
Jens Albinus	...	Morty
Reathel Bean	...	Judge
Mette Berggreen	...	Receptionist

Storyline

1964 in small town Washington state. Selma Jezková, a Czechoslovakian immigrant, and her preteen son Gene live in a rented trailer owned by and on the property of married Bill and Linda Houston, he the town sheriff. Beyond Bill and Linda, Selma has a small group of friends who look out for her, including her primary confidante, Kathy, with who she works, and Jeff who wants to be her boyfriend. Jeff regularly waits outside Selma's workplace long before the end of her shift to drive her home, despite she always refusing in not wanting to lead him on. Her primary job is working on the Anderson Tool factory assembly line, but she does whatever she can to earn money. What only Kathy knows among Selma's friends is that she is slowly going blind, her medical condition being genetic. Selma is barely able to see, just enough to do her job. Her primary reason for moving to the US and for working all the time is to earn enough money for an operation for Gene when he turns thirteen, he who ...

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Plot Keywords:

czech immigrant | tragedy | singing | daydream | dancing | 

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Taglines:

In a world of shadows, she found the light of life.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Musical

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Certificate:

14A

Did You Know?

Trivia

While known among DV filmmakers as being filmed with anamorphic lenses to obtain a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, this is not entirely true; anamorphic lenses were only used on the infamous "100 cameras" for the musical numbers. The rest of the film (along with close-ups in the musical numbers) was shot with a larger camera in 16x9, which was then cropped to the final 2.35:1 aspect ratio. However, this does make the film one of, if not the first digitally shot film to use anamorphic lenses.

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Goofs

When Selma knocks on the door and her foreman answers it, the door opens from the wrong direction, and they are clearly not in the same factory building.

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Quotes

Brenda: You'll be transferred to the other cellblock, at some point tomorrow.
Selma: That's the cellblock where they hang people?
Brenda: Yeah. That's were they spend the last day.
Selma: And then they do the 107 steps - it's from that room to the gallows, isn't it?
Brenda: That's what they say, Selma. But, look it, you're gonna get your stay. Why don't you try to think of something nice. All right?
Selma: It's just so quiet here.

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Alternate Versions

The film originally contained a song entitled "141 Steps"; however, after the Cannes premiere, director Lars von Trier decided to shorten it, and the song was subsequently reworked and retitled "107 Steps."

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Connections

Featured in The 2001 IFP/West Independent Spirit Awards (2001)

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Soundtracks

107 Steps
Written by Björk, Sjón Sigurdsson & Lars von Trier
Performed by Björk & Siobhan Fallon Hogan
Arranged by Björk & Vincent Mendoza
Orchestrated & Conducted by Vincent Mendoza
Produced by Björk & Mark Bell
Mixed by Mark Stent (as Mark "Spike" Stent)
Published by Universal Music & Copyright Control

User Reviews

A film so perfect it hurts to watch.

This is quite possibly the most moving film I've seen, it ensnares you within the first minute, or Bjork does with her interpretation of the sound of music, which is both hilarious and introduces one of the main themes: the magic of musicals. Not one of my favourite genres (but everyone loves The Sound Of Music, right?) but Lars Von Trier makes you re-evaluate your perception with a gentle loving pastiche of the way for no reason people and things in musicals spontaneously erupt into song, made more credible in this film by implicating a reason for it: Bjork's character is going blind so she hears music in the slightest thing and she, in her mind, sees how moves should be choreographed with the music she hears, reminiscent of her own ‘It's Oh So Quiet' music video. And the best thing about this film is the way Bjork charms you with her portrayal of the nicest person in the world, she will do anything for you if she could. She is essentially an innocent and though this is her weakness you can't help but love her all the more: a sparkling performance from a unique singer in real life.

However from this don't assume that this is a light happy film as there is a dark tragic side also, and this side is full of injustice, agony- and I mean agony-, sorrow- like you'd not believe-, and an intense emotional pull as I've ever felt in a cinema before, and it's this half that propels it from being just a great film to becoming one of the greatest. Its greatness is in telling a simple story of a woman trying to stop her own genetic sight disorder afflicting her son, by working every hour to afford the operation, working heavy machinery despite essentially being virtually blind, its greatness is its ability to inflict upon you the gift of feeling every conceivable emotion you posses and you do, you really do experience so much during this film. But I'll not say too much as my enjoyment of this film increased due to, for a change, not second guessing what would happen but to just let it be, I would say to passively watch but there's nothing passive about this film. It really moves you. It makes you feel alive.

This film should be seen alone, in the quiet when you are all by yourself, but more importantly than that it should be seen: this is more than mere movie this is art this is real this is the greatest film I have ever seen: even better than Casablanca, and Shadowlands, and The Piano.

Details

Country:

Denmark Germany Netherlands Italy USA UK France Sweden Finland Iceland Argentina Norway Taiwan Belgium

Language:

English German Czech

Release Date:

6 October 2000 (Canada)

Also Known As:

Danser dans le noir

Filming Locations:

Arlington, Washington, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$12,800,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$91,612, 24 September 2000

Gross USA:

$4,184,036

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$40,031,879

Company Credits

Production Co:

Zentropa Entertainments, Trust Film Svenska, Film i Väst

Technical Specs

Runtime:

140 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1