Movie · 2000 · Drama, Crime · 2h 20m · R · English
Curator score: 8.4/10 (316.9K ratings)
In a world of shadows, she found the light of life.
Overview
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, dreaming up little numbers to the rhythmic beats of her surroundings.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.4/10
IMDb: 7.9/10
Letterboxd: 4.22/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 69%
Metacritic: 63
TMDB: 7.8/10
Director
Lars von Trier
Production
Zentropa Entertainments, DR, SVT Drama, ARTE, France 3 Cinéma, Blind Spot Pictures
Cast
Björk, Catherine Deneuve, David Morse, Peter Stormare, Joel Grey, Cara Seymour, Vladica Kostic, Jean-Marc Barr, Vincent Paterson, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Željko Ivanek, Udo Kier, Jens Albinus, Reathel Bean, Mette Berggreen, Lars Michael Dinesen, Katrine Falkenberg, Michael Flessas, John Randolph Jones, Noah Lazarus
Where to watch
MUBI
Curator Review
Verdict
A devastating, formally daring tragedy that uses musical fantasy to make Selma’s suffering feel both intimate and unbearable. It’s emotionally punishing, but the performances, sound design, and radical style make it a major work for viewers who want cinema to hurt and astonish in equal measure.
Best for
viewers who like emotionally intense, boundary-pushing dramas
fans of bleak art-house cinema and formal experimentation
people interested in musicals that subvert the genre
audiences drawn to tragic stories about sacrifice and injustice
Skip if
you want an uplifting or cathartic musical
you’re sensitive to prolonged despair and cruelty
you dislike highly stylized, confrontational filmmaking
you prefer plot-driven stories with clear emotional relief
Overview
Dancer in the Dark is one of those films that feels less like a story than an ordeal, in the best and worst sense. Lars von Trier turns a simple, heartbreaking premise into a punishing collision of melodrama, social realism, and musical fantasy, and the result is unforgettable whether you admire it or recoil from it.
Worth noting
Björk gives a raw, fearless performance that carries the film’s fragile hope and mounting terror. The musical passages are not escape so much as coping mechanism, which makes them both beautiful and deeply sad. The contrast between the dream life Selma invents and the world closing in around her is the movie’s great emotional engine.
Bottom line
This is not an easy recommendation, and it is not meant to be. It can feel manipulative, even cruel, but it is also rigorously controlled and devastatingly effective. If you want cinema that takes a huge emotional swing and commits all the way through, this is essential viewing.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Josiah Morgan (5★) · 7369 likes
this is the worst movie ive ever seen
megan (4.5★) · 4387 likes
she did tell us to leave before the last song
Eli Hayes (5★) · 3048 likes
"It's just so quiet here."
Lucy (4★) · 2589 likes
it's been days since i saw it, but i'm actually... gonna do a real review for this: shocking, i know. i almost never do. i bet half of you think i don't even know how to type out an original thought besides a one liner that i post and go. but that's because i don't usually feel the need to elaborate and dig deep within on how i feel about many movies i watch. it's not that i can't, i… more it's been days since i saw it, but i'm actually... gonna do a real review for this: shocking, i know. i almost never do. i bet half of you think i don't even know how to type out an original thought besides a one liner that i post and go. but that's because i don't usually feel the need to elaborate and dig deep within on how i feel about many movies i watch. it's not that i can't, i… more
DIREKTIONZ (5★) · 2584 likes
Björk: "But isn't it annoying when they do the last song in the films?"David Morse: "Why?"Björk: “Because you just know when it goes really big -- and the camera goes like out of the roof -- and you just know it's going to end. I hate that. I would leave just after the next to last song -- and the film would just go on forever."
This film warned me and I didn’t listen...