Dancer in the Dark

2000 "You don't need eyes to see."
7.9| 2h20m| R| en
Details

Selma, a Czech immigrant on the verge of blindness, struggles to make ends meet for herself and her son, who has inherited the same genetic disorder and will suffer the same fate without an expensive operation. When life gets too difficult, Selma learns to cope through her love of musicals, escaping life's troubles - even if just for a moment - by dreaming up little numbers to the rhythmic beats of her surroundings.

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Reviews

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...
Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
Married Baby Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?
Osmosis Iron An "odd" masterpiece. Von Trier's offbeat musical is beautiful without being overly happy or bright.. Heartbreaking story full of memorable moments both bitter and sweet. Emotional powerhouse.. Björk is amazing in this!
Artur Machado From Lars Von Trier with Björk in the lead role. This is the most boring movie I have ever seen: very bad and shaky direction from unbelievable angles, depressing story of an already worn out formula, the horrible music of Björk that every time there was a musical segment it felt like an endless torture, her totally insipid representation... I did not even regretted that she died at the end. Even more depressing is the fact that this is an idea of Lars Von Trier that I even had in some consideration but this is very amateur.
Paolo Vanoli The hugest movie picture that I've ever seen. A total immersive brand experience with a dramatic spirit able to destroys your soul. I think it represents Lars Von Trier's biggest work; here he proved a big sensitive artistic talent, with bravery and strength. A movie like "Dancer in the Dark" is a result that only a visionary artistic genius could obtains. It shows clearly a passionate talent. Owerflowing with hugeness.The plot is unique; a story packed with an excellent tragedy screenplay. The soundtrack is simply majestic and the musical performance are moving and breathtaking, with a perfect performer as the singer Björk. She, the main character Selma Jezkova, is a incredible woman with an incredible soul, which keeps at high levels the movie's atmosphere.
epicmilk15 Okay is not a good word to describe this movie. It is not bland or mediocre; rather it dips into both Oscar and Razzy territory... a lot. Lets start off with the positives:Interesting camera style, which at first feels artsy-fartsy, but works surprisingly well (except for in above shots), and immerses you into this world as if you were an unnamed characterAMAZING acting from all of the supporting cast. Bjork's performance was inconsistent (I'll talk about that later), but everyone else in this film was very, very good I can actually follow what's going on! While I love movies like 2001 (very few artsy movies are actually good, but some are), they can be very, very, VERY abstract (sort of their draw too, I guess), but this one was easily followable, without shoving everything in the audiences face. Now for the shitstorm:The plot holes and technical inconsistencies. Maybe you can chock this up to my CinemaSins nature, but I can't stand plot holes and inconsistencies, especially when they are obvious. And this one has a lot. For example, when Bill first shows off his gun, it is a revolver, and when we see it again in the film later, it is an M1911. While both would make sense for a police officer of the time (which Bill is), he is explicitly mentioned as having only 1 gun, his standard issue police firearm, which is also a major plot point of the film. There are also tons of inconsistencies (this is DEFINITELY NOT THE 1960s, despite the film claiming it as so), like the model of train and SEVERAL background issues. If you nitpick a lot, then this film will give you headaches and nightmaresThe writing. I may have said that the acting was superb, but the writing isn't. While the plot itself was very good, it was just handled very poorly. A good script has a plot that revolves around the characters, and fits with those characters. When a character does something in a good script, it feels like THAT CHARACTER performed said action out of a reason befitting of them (I.E. The joker's seemingly random actions in the Dark Knight fit with his character very well). These characters feel like they do thing for the convenience of the plot, which breaks the immersion set up with the great acting and camera style. Selma's stupidity. Okay, this one goes into the last issue I mentioned. Selma's IQ is very low (not saying Bjork's necessarily is, but Selma the character is about as bright as nylon is flammable). She is SO STUPID!! This is HIGHLY immersion breaking, and she is a disillusion and (unintentionally) irresponsible mother at best, and and a (this segment has been censored due to explicit use of profanity and offensive language. We apologize for the inconvenience, and will now resume the review. Thank you!) at worst. The verdict:Good acting and well-done camera angels lead to superb immersion. Songs that are varied in how good or bad they are. A terrible script that breaks most of the immersion set up by point one. Blatant inconsistencies that break the remainder of immersion left after number three. A lot of unbelievable circumstances that the plot forces these characters into against any sort of believablity. Final word: A motherload of potential, thanks to great acting and superb camera-work, wasted almost entirely by an atrocious script and so many plot holes that it puts the moon to shame. A good, but forgettable soundtrack to boot. Ultimately: wasted potential; this story needs to be revisited by a writer who knows what the hell he's doing. -5.5/10-