

Dancer in the Dark

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.
It feels weird rating a film 10 out of 10 as I've only ever done it about 20 times. I'm not a fan of musicals, and I possibly wouldn't have watched this if I knew it was a musical, but I'm fond of Bjork's music. I completely loved this movie. It blew me away. Extraordinary, moving, incredible, fantastic. Not enough superlatives to describe it.
It's well documented that Bjork had her run ins with von Trier on set, but whatever happened worked in the film sense at least, because she is utterly fantastic. Selma's romantic ambitions to make it in the USA are as delusional as the American dream itself. Perhaps that's why this movie wasn't that well received in America - because it's a thinly veiled criticism on the country and its' psyche. Selma says at one point : "In a musical, nothing dreadful ever happens", well von Trier put that to bed with his bleak but beautiful Dogme style. The way the music numbers appear from the most mundane sounds is nothing short of brilliance.
This movie made me feel like I want to feel when I watch movies, then again if they were all like this none would stand out in the crowd. Bjork is perfect, the script is perfect, the direction is perfect. It's perfect.