Von Trier is vicious when it comes to milking the melodrama.
Comment
06/05/03
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Dancer in the Dark (1999)
68
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:111
Fresh:75
Rotten:36
Average Rating:6.6/10
Consensus: Dancer in Dark can be grim, dull, and difficult to watch, but even so, it has a powerful and moving performance from Bjork and is something quite new and visionary.
Theatrical Release:Sep 23, 2000 Wide
Box Office: $891,547
Synopsis: The final installment in Lars von Trier's Golden Heart trilogy (which includes BREAKING THE WAVES and THE IDIOTS), DANCER IN THE DARK takes the director's original blend of heightened... [More]
Starring: Björk, Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Marc Barr, David Morse
Director: Lars von Trier
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Reviews for Dancer in the Dark
As a big fan of Björk, I greatly enjoyed her often stunning work both as a singer and an actor here. In fact, she does a better job of generating sympathy for herself than von Trier does for Selma.
01/01/00
This is one special film and in some ways fantastic. -- also INTERVIEW w/BJORK
01/01/00
The Danish director has made an incredibly dour, music-tinged drama that might break some hearts, but just made me want to break things.
01/01/00
Seeing it, one does get some sense that the Danish Emperor of Film is wearing no clothes.
01/01/00
It demands to be seen, and though you might detest it, at least you'll exit the theater with the bruised sense of having seen something memorable.
01/01/00
Top CriticA thought-provoking, emotionally resonant, and innovative cinematic experience.
01/01/00
Top CriticNothing less than a groundbreaking -- and magical -- art house reinvention of a genre that even Disney cartoons have been shying away from in recent years.
01/01/00
It is not pleasing to watch, by any conceivable definition of that word.
09/12/07
Powerful -- and powerfully irritating. But love it or hate it, you're not likely to forget it.
01/01/00
The musical is dead. Long live the musical! Lars Von Trier has not only resurrected the form in his latest film, he has reinvented it.
01/01/00
Much of it comes across as a giant, misshapen ego trip.
01/01/00
Top CriticI got very little out of this particular freak show.
02/14/01
I make no promises about Dancer in the Dark. You may hate it. But I thought it was one of the best pictures of the year.
02/26/01
A film like no other, and even if only to simply bear witness to such a bold, experimental work, it commands a viewing.
01/01/00
Von Trier is poking at subconscious safety nets we turn to for reassurance in ways both pretentious and provocative, depending on the predisposition of the beholder.
01/01/00
It's a carefully crafted provocation that both undermines and expands the notion of what makes a movie musical.
01/01/00
Top CriticIt smashes down the walls of habit that surround so many movies. It returns to the wellsprings. It is a bold, reckless gesture.
01/01/00
Top CriticThe preachiness is off-putting, and so are the film's melodramatic plotting and woozy handheld camerawork.
04/17/01
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