Philadelphia Inquirer by Carrie Rickey
A movie that by turns is wincingly awful and heartbreakingly fine. It boasts an unforgettable performance by Björk.
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Denmark, Germany, Netherlands · 2000
Rated R · 2h 21m
Director Lars Von Trier
Starring Björk, Catherine Deneuve, David Morse, Peter Stormare
Genre Drama
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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. When life gets difficult, Selma learns to cope through her love of musicals, escaping life's troubles by dreaming up little numbers to the rhythmic beats of her surroundings.
Philadelphia Inquirer by Carrie Rickey
A movie that by turns is wincingly awful and heartbreakingly fine. It boasts an unforgettable performance by Björk.
Baltimore Sun by Chris Kaltenbach
A film of so much daring, a film that takes so many chances, it's impossible not to be impressed.
At times the movie's crudeness has an eerie beauty, but the musical fantasies are a bewildering hash, and the protracted climax on death row is nearly unendurable.
I was astonished to find myself weeping copiously over von Trier's latest, which is another parable of monomaniacal sainthood.
New York Post by Jonathan Foreman
If it weren't for a terrific central performance by the Icelandic pop singer Bjork, Dancer in the Dark would be all but unwatchable.
Charlotte Observer by Lawrence Toppman
Can be unbearably moving or annoyingly mawkish, sometimes in the same scene.
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
It is a bold, reckless gesture.
Portland Oregonian by Shawn Levy
Ought to win a prize for sheer audacity.
Lars von Trier is a mechanic, not an artist. And his movies are meat grinders he feeds his characters through.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer by William Arnold
Fairly incompetent as a musical and rather silly as a drama.
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