"YAY"Dancer in the Dark (2000) a film by Lars von Trier is a dramatic musical that tells the tale of a single mother slowly going blind in the real world while escaping the harsh truth of this expected darkness deep within her own colorful imagination. What is left of her vision is trapped behind black, bulky frames encompassing lenses, two-inches thick making her eyes look twice their size against her pale skin and small stature.
Singer/Songwriter Bjork stars as Selma, a young woman who sought refuge in America to seek a miracle cure that would save her ten-year old son from suffering the same fate: losing the ability to see.
Bjork displays such raw talent bringing Selma to life. Dressed in bland garments of grays and dark blues with uncombed hair and no make-up, we lose the sight of her as a popular performer in real life and become more transfixed with her character’s childlike demeanor on-screen. She is Selma and with her frail state and soft-spoken voice it makes it almost impossible not to empathize with her desperation throughout the film. We allow ourselves to fall into her and let her lead us into Selma’s musical mind so we too can see what Selma sees. Her place is stuck out in the middle of nowhere. Her routine is a boring means to an end, living within the cramped walls of her little mobile home. We are consumed with Selma’s fear that this illness is hereditary and certain. Though she tries to push herself no matter what the cost bears onto her health, as her vision blurs one thing remains clear, her ability is limited because of a disability she finds difficult to admit to anyone. Once she trusts enough to share her secret, a dramatic turn of events will take you to a jaw-dropping finale that will leave you stunned!
Subtle hints throughout the film illustrate the progression of the disease. We see Selma place her index finger half-way inside a glass so that she knows to stop pouring once the water touches the end of her fingertip. We see her gazing up inside a theatre as her friend narrates the movement of the images before her. As she sees less and less, it becomes almost too unbearable for the audience to just sit and watch until we reach a twisted turning point we never saw coming. The quality of the film looks as if it were shot entirely by a hand-held video camera, complete with shaky scenes and out-of-focus takes. This makes the viewer feel as if it is all happening in real time, as if we are staring out from inside Selma’s fading eyes and watching as her story unfolds.
This film is not your typical musical by any means since it chose to conduct its performances off-stage without any glamour shots, high-kicks, bright lights, and flashy costumes. Each beautiful piece of music is created using the everyday conundrum of Selma’s world to let us explore the contents within her mind. Every ‘clank’ is a chime. Every ‘bang’ is a beating drum. Every ‘whoosh’ is a two-step and ‘whish’ a twirling finish. In “I’ve Seen It All,” Selma takes us on no ordinary train ride. As she sings to drown out the noise and daydreams to get away, we find ourselves dreaming with her even for a moment to do the same.
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