Almost There: Björk in "Dancer in the Dark"
Wednesday, May 19, 2021 at 9:23AM 
Premiering at the 53rd Cannes Film Festival, Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark became one of the most discussed films of 2000. At the end of the festivities, von Trier would walk away with the Palme D'Or while his leading lady, Icelandic music artist Björk, won the Best Actress prize. It's unusual for any Cannes competition title to win more than one award from the main jury, but sometimes it's impossible to deny a performance's magnificence. Such was the case in 2000. As the musical hit theaters critics worldwide began to chime in and the praise for Björk's achievement became more mountainous. Even some who objected to von Trier's experiment had words of adoration for its star.
It's fair to say that Björk's performance in Dancer in the Dark was one of the most acclaimed acting achievements of 2000. Nonetheless, when Oscar nomination morning arrived, she wasn't among the Best Actress nominees…
Shot with rudimentary digital cameras and an aesthetic derived from the Dogme 95 movement, Dancer in the Dark is a postmodern musical about Selma, a musical-loving Czech immigrant living in 1960s America with her son. Splitting her days between work at a kitchen sinks factory and rehearsals for a community theater staging of The Sound of Music, she struggles with vision problems. Unbeknownst to friends, family, doctors, and employers, Selma's sight has deteriorated to the point that she's virtually blind. Desperate to make sure that her child won't suffer the same malady, she's been saving money to pay for a surgery that will hopefully salvage the kid's eyes before they stop working altogether.
The situation is already prone to a certain level of exploitation, a portrayal of working-class misery whose toothy mouth waters at the idea of more suffering. Such ill fates are quick to materialize when Selma confides the reality of her condition to Bill, a local policeman and her landlord. One day, after a factory accident leaves her without a job, the protagonist discovers the surgery money's missing, stolen by the only man who knew her secret. The ensuing confrontation has a bloody end, sealing Selma's fate. The woman's stubbornness, her unwillingness to reveal what she knows, only precipitates the doomed finale of this tragedy.
On paper, it's difficult not to read a monstrous amount of misogyny in the scenario. After all, Dancer in the Dark is the last entry in the Golden Hearts trilogy, a collection of films where Lars von Trier immortalized the stories of naïve women, saintly predisposed to suffer and sacrifice themselves. Still, the best films from the director's oeuvre circumvent the dilemma of women-hating diatribe through casts ready to set the screen ablaze in fiery discord. Like Emily Watson had done in Breaking the Waves and Nicole Kidman would do in Dogville, Björk often comes off as a combative element fighting the film's vision of Selma from within.
Even ignoring the merits of the performance proper, Björk's casting is a feat of genius that sets Dancer in the Dark in the path of success. To put it bluntly, the Icelandic actress is not of this world. There's an alien allure to her, essential and fascinatingly odd. The sheer energy she brings to the film infects the trite mechanisms of the plot, making Selma's self-annihilating decisions feel more authentic than convoluted. Better yet, Björk's presence is characterized by joyful effervescence, an ethereal quality that makes Selma's daydreaming feel rooted in truth. No matter what happens to her character, the singer's appearance in front of the camera is enough to contradict the possibility of pornographic misery.
Of course, the performance itself is a wonder of unassuming precision, bullish intensity, explosive feeling. With her vaguely infantile aloofness, Björk's Selma could come off as a witless innocent if the performer didn't ground her character so precisely. Whatever sincere whimsy there is, it exists within the narrative as a canny defense mechanism, a survival strategy. She daydreams as a way to keep her sanity, to face the bleak reality of her existence without flinching or giving up. Regarding her tendency for tragic endings, Selma's willingness to suffer isn't the product of a martyr's obsession. Neither is she motivated by some twisted desire for misery, a masochist's glut for punishment.
Selma's sacrifice is justified by her situation and, through Björk, we get to read the woman's deadly choices as measured tactics. It's just as innately deliberate as the woman's musical reveries. She walks towards doom, not because she's a saint, but because the consequences for not doing so would be even more unbearable to her "golden" heart. Suppose von Trier's text wants to smash the porcelain doll of Selma's being. In that case, Björk's acting courageously attempts to keep the doll's pieces together, to avoid shattering even as the character capitulates to her gallows-bound destiny. This being a tragedy, shattering happens no matter what the actress does to avoid it.
A ball of despair and confusion, anger and disgust, Selma's last non-musical scene with Bill is lacerating to watch. Björk plays the tortured interaction with such helplessness one can't help but feel hot knives stabbing at the heart. As she kills, she's overcome by a deep rage that was hitherto unexplored, and, through all this, Selma is painfully human. Through Björk's bruised take on her character, Lars von Trier cinema becomes that most unexpected of things - an expression of pure empathy. Miraculous is the word for it. Indeed, for a singer, Björk would make for a fantastic silent film actress, so strong is the clarity with which she can illustrate complex sentiment, the masking of it.
During the trial scenes and prison conversations, von Trier often points his camera at her face and lets it fill the frame with electrifying power. I get chills looking at her in such moments, witnessing how this Icelandic marvel proves herself to be a good heir to the mantle of such performers as Falconetti, Nielsen, Gaynor, and so many other queens of the silent silver screen. She swallows down the fear, the realization of impending doom, but doesn't allow all those emotions to overwhelm her face. As someone who's consistently hiding her actual pains, Selma is a character for which overt demonstrativeness is wrong. Only in exact instances does she reveal the fear inside, the animal terror, the paralyzing pain. It's a performance so raw it spews blood when you push on it.
It'd be inexcusable to analyze this performance and not mention how Björk performs the songs she wrote for Dancer in the Dark, so here we go. The first outright musical number takes 40 minutes to arrive. When it does, a cheery tune sang to the sound of an industrial cacophony. It's both a breath of fresh air and a presage of misery. Singing euphoria translates, on-screen, to escapist derangement, as beautiful as it is cutting. Gradually, watching how the character seems to become lighter when dreaming music, the audience is seduced into becoming just like Selma. We, too, need the mercy of the musical fantasy to sustain us through this. Without the songs, Dancer in the Dark would be unbearable.
Björk reflects that dynamic in her committed performance of the tunes, giving in to the extremes of emotion, be it feverish joy or serenity in the face of death. Like Liza Minelli at the end of Cabaret, Björk sings "I've Seen It All" as an act of joyful self-delusion, a desperate bout of self-affirmation. Narratively and inside the character's mind, she's attempting to convince a friend that she's okay. More importantly, though, Selma's trying to convince herself that everything is going to be alright. It's not. Later, when this escapist mechanism falters, and the truth is too screeching to ignore, the pain is excruciating. Alone in her cell, she sobs her way through The Sound of Music's "My Favorite Things," and we break apart. The actress captures her audience completely, holds them close, and destroys them through a performance that marries the necessary artifice of musicals with a grisly sense of realism.
In the research and writing of this piece, I read many reviews of Dancer in the Dark, both from its original release and more recent years. I saw some describe it as the continuation of a tradition of classic tragedy updated for new cinematic languages, as an attack on the musical genre that equates escapism to an idiot's delight, as a melodramatic triumph, a nihilistic failure. While I remain steadfast in my love for the film, it's a complicated affection. I find myself agreeing and disagreeing with many critics and academics on both sides of the matter. The internal struggles of the production, its behind-the-scenes drama, further complicate those feelings.
Filming Dancer in the Dark was not a fun experience for Björk, the star clashing with her director tremendously. Apart from some experimental work, she hasn't acted on film ever since, with Robert Eggers' The Northman marking her big-screen return. Catherine Deneuve has spoken in interviews about how painful the experience was for her Icelandic colleague while von Trier has gilded the lily of their conflict in a voracious fashion. According to him, she'd greet the director every day by spitting on him. Dancer in the Dark is thus a painful film birthed from a painful process. These tensions mark the final project like a web of raised scars.
One can often feel Lars von Trier's love for misery and Björk's ethereal jubilation pulling the film in different directions. The messy struggle they generate ends up creating a vicious sort of barbed equilibrium, a fragile balance, essential to Dancer in the Dark's success. At every step, one feels like the film is challenging itself, arguing between form and performance, story and music. That challenge extends beyond the screen, reverberating in the audience's experience. Take Björk away, and Dancer in the Dark falls apart, irreparably so. In the end, she's more than just a performer and songwriter. Alongside her director, she's the ultimate author of this work of art—no wonder the Cannes jury saw fit to ignore tradition and gave her a prize.
After that victory in the Croisette, Björk got a surprising amount of awards season support considering the punitive, wildly abrasive nature of her film. The highest-profile honor came from the Golden Globes, who perplexingly characterized Dancer in the Dark as a drama and nominated Björk in the corresponding Best Actress category. Across critics' prizes, she often got runner-up mentions, while the National Board of Review awarded her a special honor for Outstanding Dramatic Music Performance. In the end, though, AMPAS kept the Icelandic goddess away from their Best Actress lineup.
The nominees were Joan Allen in The Contender, Juliette Binoche in Chocolat, Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream, Laura Linney in You Can Count On Me, and Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich. The latter would take the trophy, while Binoche and Allen were the most vulnerable in the lineup. It's easy to imagine a scenario where Björk takes either of their spots. Still, von Trier's songstress was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Song category. Because of that, we got to admire her red-carpet exuberance as she dressed like a swan, one of the most memorable looks in Academy Awards history. Silver linings aside, Björk deserved to be in the Best Actress lineup.
Dancer in the Dark is currently available to stream or to rent from the usual services.
2000, Almost There, Best Actress, Björk, Dancer in the Dark, Lars Von Trier, Oscars (00), musicals
Reader Comments (33)
Definitely one of the most egregious omissions among Oscar acting nominations. Reading this piece reminded me of how astonishing she was and is telling me that maybe I should watch the film again. Thanks for the article!
nominee? sure
winner? Burstyn, then Roberts, then Björk, if you ask me.
Roberts was iconic. Burstyn should have won, but Julia was a good, almost equally deserving, winner.
Great performance and Almost There. But like the author she remains an icon.
Leading ladies from Von Trier’s films are always excellent. Unfortunately none of them, after Emily Watson, managed to get Oscar recognition. Björk and Kiki Dunst are the ones whose absence hurts the most. I’ve watched Dancer in the Dark first on dvd and then on the big screen. And, WOW, such a different (better) experience!
Too bad Dancer in the Dark wasn’t a Miramax release. She’d have been in for sure! 😉
Ahhh, Dancer in the Dark, one of the essential titles that opened my eyes and led me towards cinephilia forever (as well as thefilmexperience!). *_*
New World should have been nominated AND won the Oscar.
I wonder if she had gotten the nom, what would have been Björk's Oscar clip.
This sounds good on paper but come on, he wrote the script, cast her, co-wrote all the songs, supervised the editing - He's a shitty person but for better AND WORSE they brought out the best in each other, it was a collaboration, in the worst circumstances but a collaboration.
Ron -- Thanks for the comment.
Jesus Alonso -- I think Burstyn would still be my pick as well, with Björk as runner-up.
Antônio -- Oh, that sounds wonderful and I'd love to see DANCER IN THE DARK on the big screen. I'm jealous :)
Santy -- Maybe one of the jail conversations? I feel like the showiest parts (murder and execution) would be too much for the Academy, as well as being major spoilers.
Luiserghio -- I didn't intend to say Von Trier isn't a part of the film's success and I don't think I did. As written here, the two artists strike a volatile equilibrium. Take one out of the equation and I think DANCER IN THE DARK falls apart. For the record, I'd give Von Trier a Best Director nomination for this, and might even give him the gold for DOGVILLE.
Honestly, watching this again, I'm reminded of how Huppert's influence shapes ELLE in such a dramatic manner, she's as much an author of that film as Paul Verhoeven. Saying this isn't discrediting the director's influence in the final work.
Dancer in the Dark and Dogville are two of my personal favorite films of the decade. However, I absolutely don't want to see Lars von Trier getting any awards for them.
A magnificent performance, she's my number 2, (my winner is Burstyn), Bjork gives all in every scene, her voice is unique and this is one great melodrama.
I loved this so much the first time I saw it, but was so moved by it, I've never watched it again. But I do have it on DVD and will probably go there again at some point. Some beautiful observations in this article, Cláudio.
One thing I'd say is that, while it's very rare these days for Cannes to give out more than one prize to a film, back then it was pretty common. In the 1990s alone, The Best Intentions, The Piano, Secrets and Lies and Rosetta all won the Palme d'Or and the Actress prize. The Player and Naked both won Actor and Directing. Barton Fink won the Palme d'or and Actor and Directing. And Dancer in the Dark was flanked by two films that took the Grand Prix and both the Actor and Actress prizes - L'Humanité in 1999 and The Piano Teacher in 2001. I think that at some point not long after that - perhaps when Elephant won both the Palme d'Or and the Directing prize - they changed the rules, so that the jury could only give a film two prizes if one of them was the Prix du Jury or the Screenplay prize and the other an acting prize. Something like that anyway!
Edward L. -- Thank you. I wasn't sure when they had changed the rules. I do remember that The Piano Teacher got three awards from the jury the next year, even though Moretti got the Palme d'Or.
Bravo!!! Love this write-up Claudio! Love love this film and Bjork, and this has opened my eyes to cinephilia!
I'm with Sam.
Also: important to note that the film is set in the Sixties (1964 to be exact) and not the Fifties, otherwise the use of The Sound of Music (Broadway premiere 1959) would be a glaring anachronism.
Sam and Working stiff -- I can understand that sentiment.
Also, sorry about the decade mistake. I already fixed it. Thank you for pointing it out.
Wonderful article about a phenomenal performance.
Another worthy nominee that year would have been Gillian Anderson in The House of Mirth.
''I didn't intend to say Von Trier isn't a part of the film's success and I don't think I did. As written here, the two artists strike a volatile equilibrium. Take one out of the equation and I think DANCER IN THE DARK falls apart.''
That's absolutely not what you wrote; you spent an entire article (one that was far too long) suggesting among other things that Bjork and other Von Trier women rescue the stories from the depths of 'misogyny' through sheer willpower alone. As if the WRITER AND DIRECTOR of the pieces had no input at all. I just can't stand these totally ungenerous, misandrist view points.
I don't know what it is about leftist gays these days but I certainly don't hold this neo-Victorianite view that all women are wallflowers who need to be shielded from even a moments discomfort. And with all due respect it's not just you Claudio; it's practically every member of the Film Experience Team and in film journalism at large. Two things can be true at once; were Dancer in the Dark and Dogville difficult films for the leading ladies? Yes. Does that make Lars Von Trier a misogynist who sadistically hates women? No. Does that mean that the women themselves felt 'victimized' at every step of the way? Depends. Nicole Kidman and Chalrotte Gainsbourg don't seem to think so yet Bjork didn't have a great time as she has stated numerous times. Could it just be that Bjork herself is a difficult person to work with? Given the fact that she never made another film and she's notoriously iconoclastic and singular, yes.
And spare me the bullsh*t that Lars von Trier 'traumatized her' from making another movie. She's an indelible artist and probably insufferable to work with/for. We all know that the best ones usually are. Art, and the making *of* art, is an extremely precious process as all artists know. Why demonize one sex and not the other? I just hate how the coverage is so biased and framed so lazily as men vs. women.
Have any of you ever worked for a difficult boss? What did any of you do? Complain about it for the rest of your lives or learn from it and move on? I just cant stand how these conversations are always framed through the lens of identity politics.
What a joy to read about some of my favorite lead performances of 2000. My top 5 is:
1. Jim Carrey, Me, Myself & Irene
2. Björk, Dancer in the Dark
3. Leonardo Sbaraglia, Plata Quemada
4. Jamie Bell, Billy Elliot
5. Ellen Burstyn, Requiem for a Dream
The Oscars did not nominate the acting work of Björk but at least they could give her the win as Original Song for: "I've Seen It All", the scene is one of the highest peaks of the film.
Speaking about music, what it been happened with the Soundtracking posts?. The mix of music and films is one of the many things I love from movies.
It's definitely one of the best singer to actress performances to come along in at least 30 years.
Paul -- If that's not what I wrote, apologies for being unclear in my writing. I said:
"The messy struggle they generate ends up creating a vicious sort of barbed EQUILIBRIUM, a fragile balance, essential to Dancer in the Dark's success. At every step, one feels like the film is challenging itself, arguing between form and performance, story and music. That challenge extends beyond the screen, reverberating in the audience's experience. Take Björk away, and Dancer in the Dark falls apart, irreparably so. In the end, she's more than just a performer and songwriter. ALONGSIDE her director, she's the ultimate author of this work of art."
I believed I made it clear that their team-up is the source of this balance, even as the film was born from a tumultuous professional relationship. I will not, however, apologize for my other opinions, even if they offend you. Or, at the very least, the skewed strawman caricature of my opinions you chose to present in your comment.
While I gave the example of Kidman and Watson, I mentioned casts in the same paragraph. Often, I find Von Trier's films depend on their actors, and they're the ones that contradict, transcend, or complicate what the form and text bring forth. I'm not a fan of nihilistic cinema nor cinema that eschews visual artistry in pursuit of realism, hence why performers that complicate Von Trier's oeuvre tend to be the key that elevates his best works. That's how I see it. I mentioned only Watson and Kidman because they seem more comparable to Björk than, say, Bettany in DOGVILLE or Skarsgard's innocent groom in MELANCHOLIA.
That's not misandry. That's my complicated opinion on a director whose filmography often compels me to extreme reactions of either love (this film, DOGVILLE, MELANCHOLIA) or revilement (NYMPHOMANIAC, THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT). If I ever meant to say he's not part of his film's success, I wouldn't write that he's an author of this work of art that I love, as equally necessary as the leading lady I spend this long article admiring.
I never said actors should be spared from discomfort or that such treatment can't be in the origins of great art. No matter how horrible Björk felt in this shooting, the performance Von Trier directed is amazing, as are his choices of when to let her face dominate the frame, the scene. I even acknowledge this when referring to the trial passages. I have no idea where you got the idea that I think women are wallflowers. Guess projection is at the source of that one.
"Trauma" was never mentioned in this write-up. Search the page, and you'll see you're the first one to bring it up. I do think Björk's bad experience may have influenced her lack of cinematic work ever since. She's got a career outside of the film industry, and it wouldn't surprise me that she didn't want the added stress after a bad experience. It's not about trauma but about a privileged artist choosing not to pursue an endeavor that previously resulted in much distress when she already has a pretty successful career in another area. The only one demonizing people here is you. If you hate the coverage, nobody's making you engage with this material.
Also, I have worked for a difficult boss, I have worked in the arts, creating things, and sometimes the process is grueling but rewarding. Sometimes not. Please do not presume to know my life experience when I didn't share it with you.
To quote you, and with all due respect, "spare me the bullshit". Also, you're invited not to read my articles. We obviously differ in many things, and you don't seem to like my perspective. Goodbye, thanks for the feedback and for reminding me why I had stopped reading and responding to comments.
Apologies, everyone else, for this long and heated message. I shouldn't be this annoyed, but sometimes one's buttons are successfully pushed. Sorry..
Lars von Trier. Mein Fuhrer! It's in my top 10 favorite films by von Trier as I think Bjork knocked it out of the park as I also love the visual aesthetics.
@Paul-I'm totally with you on this and having seen a lot of docs on von Trier. I can vouch for the fact that Bjork could totally kick von Trier's ass any day of the week. I just thing it's just a bunch of he said/she said shit.
I don't understand why people go on about von Trier and Woody Allen and their supposed issues with women when you have someone like Michael Bay who is a million times worse in his treatment towards women.
@Claudio
I will recognize a colossal failure on my part for not differentiating between my feelings on your article and the discourse in our society at large. It was breathless and hyperbolic in some passages. I'm sorry for not clearing that up.
But I still stand by what I wrote. I have been seeing this perspective in litereray theory for a few years and now I see it in socciety at large. It's reflex for people to demonise men and glorify women and I feel compelled to acknowledge that. And yes your are right, I also was projecting when it came to my perspective on perceived 'trauma' because that is exactly the type of defense I have come to expect from people on the left when one questions or has doubt about some women's experiences. Once again, I'm sorry because I seem to be raging against you in particular but really I'm raging and projecting onto society at large.
"Misandrist" and "misandry" are notions that always make me laugh. The "oppression" of (white) men isn't really a thing, no matter how put upon or usurped they might feel at times in contemporary society.
I still need to see this! I think I tried once years ago but once I saw the first few minutes I decided I wasn't in the right mood lol.
I will forever be hurt by the basic ass Best Actress category in 2012 when there were so many more interesting options--my favorite being Kirsten Dunst in Melancholia. She'd always been my favorite and the Cannes win made me hope she might gain some steam in the awards season, but sadly not even a critics choice nod. ;( No BAFTA, no Globes. Ah well.
Jesus, some of these comments are gross in how they totally dismiss what women who worked with von Trier went through-when multiple actresses speak up about him being difficult to work with, there’s clearly a pattern. And yes, men who treat women like shit in workplace situations deserve to be demonized ;)
Paul, you have serious issues with women now feeling brave enough to speak up about trauma and abuses of power, so maybe this website (and film + literary discussions in general) aren’t for you.
Beautiful piece. I love this film and performance so much.
Paul, the problem with Lars von Trier is not him being a difficult boss, go see the Dogville documentary, and you'll know. It's all filmed. Nicole Kidman had been super polite about him.
a year that gave us Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream and Bjork in Dancer in the Dark is such a magical year of performances. Too bad they BOTH weren't nominated and that one of these two won over that silly performance that took home the gold. I have to agree with others that this and Dogville are among my faves of Trier's. Dogville was so great, with the experimental no scenery, and Nicole Kidman AND Patricia Clarkson should have had award runs with that one.
Dancer in the Dark and Dogville are superior to Breaking the Waves. I don't know if I can stomach more of his cinema but I am curious about his slave movie with Danny Glover.
This film made me so angry (although not as furious as Dogville), even as I wept uncontrollably! Maybe the ultimate LvT experience - manipulative, masterful, provocative, gut-wrenching, condescending, unique, misogynistic mother/whore binary whilst also showcasing actresses at their most brilliant and complex. The casting of Björk was indeed genius and she should’ve been showered with all the awards. I haven’t been able to stomach watching it since I first saw it in the cinema but it burns so vividly and my recollections of Björk’s work tallies with your brilliant analysis.
Meant to write “martyr/whore” - his apparently perverse preoccupation with seeing how much a woman can be tortured before she breaks.
I have such complicated feelings about the movie. Bjork's performance and songs are spectacular. The actual story is so cruel I've never been able to watch the film all the way through a second time. I'll pop in the DVD and jump to the song or scene I want to see and put it away.
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