Dancer in the Dark

"In a world of shadows, she found the light of life."

2000 2h 20m EN

🙌

7.8

BANGER

🍅

69%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.9

IMDB

★7.8TMDB · 2,087🍅69%Rotten Tomatoes●63Metacritic★7.9IMDB · 122,419

DramaCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Selma, a Czech immigrant on the verge of blindness, struggles to make ends meet for herself and her young son, who has inherited the same genetic disorder and will suffer the same fate without an expensive operation. When life becomes increasingly difficult, Selma learns to cope through her love of musicals, dreaming up little numbers to the rhythmic beats of her surroundings.

“In a world of shadows, she found the light of life.”

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Cast

Björk
Selma Jezkova
Catherine Deneuve
Kathy
David Morse
Bill Houston
Peter Stormare
Jeff
Joel Grey
Oldrich Novy
Cara Seymour
Linda Houston
Vladica Kostic
Gene Jezkova
Jean-Marc Barr
Norman

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Lars von Trier
Writers: Lars von Trier
Languages: English
Countries: Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.2× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

26 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 8 countries: Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CAST

Did you know

206+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Lars von Trier, shot by Robby Müller. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Björk. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor François Gédigier shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Björk and Catherine Deneuve and David Morse carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Lars von Trier directs. Robby Müller behind the camera. Björk scores. François Gédigier cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 3.2× over at the box office.
226 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3International production across 8 countries: Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden.
4206+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
5Directed by Lars von Trier, shot by Robby Müller. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Björk. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor François Gédigier shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Björk and Catherine Deneuve and David Morse carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "In a world of shadows, she found the light of life.".
10IMDB entry: tt0168629 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 20 themes, including "factory worker", "individual", "immigrant", "blindness and impaired vision".
12Released under 31 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Robby Müller
Original score: Björk
Editing: François Gédigier
Production design: Karl Júlíusson
Costume design: Manon Rasmussen
Makeup / hair: John Nollet
Sound: Per Streit
Runtime: 140 min · 2h 20m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $12,500,000
Box office: $40,061,153
Return: 320% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Dancer in the Dark (2000)
Rotten Tomatoes: 69% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 63/100
IMDB rating: 7.9/10 · 122,419 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

Nominated for 1 Oscar. 34 wins & 48 nominations total

Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress
European Film Award for Best Film
Robert Award for Best Production Design
Jameson People's Choice Award for Best Actress
Goya Award for Best European Film
Independent Spirit Award for Best Foreign Film
National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
European Film Award - People's Choice Award for Best Director
European Film Award for Best Actress
Japan Academy Prize for Outstanding Foreign Language Film

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Lars von Trier

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

FrontrunnerParis2020-12-31
★ 10/10
Dazzling Björk in this indictment against the death sentence, in tight close-ups. This film is a UFO, musical without being.
badelf2025-10-31
★ 6/10
I have tremendous respect for Lars von Trier's work, and I deeply admire his courage in attempting to fuse drama with musical theater. "Dancer in the Dark" is nothing if not audacious. Unfortunately, ambition alone doesn't make a successful film, and this one fails both as a drama and as a musical. As drama, the film stumbles on two fundamental levels. First, the handheld, shaky camera movement is completely unnecessary. Von Trier broke other Dogme 95 rules throughout this film, so why cling to this one annoying restriction? The constant jittering ruins suspension of disbelief, pulling us out of the story when we should be immersed in Selma's tragedy. Second, and more damning, there's no redeeming value to the bleak outcome. What have we learned? This is Greek tragedy without the moral lesson—the protagonist dies, and we're left with nothing but emptiness. Catharsis requires meaning, and "Dancer in the Dark" offers none. As a musical, it fares no better. Musicals, even dark ones, require some happiness, continuity, or saving grace. The genre demands transcendence, a moment where song lifts us beyond suffering. Here, there is none. That said, Björk does a tremendous job with what she's given, and casting Joel Grey in the final courtroom musical number was absolutely brilliant, a meta-theatrical stroke that acknowledges the genre's history while subverting it. But brilliance in moments doesn't rescue a fundamentally flawed film. "Dancer in the Dark" is an admirable failure.
CinemaSerf2025-12-04
★ 7/10
You get a clue as to the slightly surreal nature of the drama right from a start that sees Björk and Catherine Deneuve doing their own amateur dramatics rehearsals of “The Sound of Music”! It turns out that the former, “Selma”, is a Czech immigrant to the USA who is suffering from a progressive blindness that she has passed on to her young son. She knows that he still has time to have corrective surgery, but she has to earn the cash to pay for that so works at a tool assembly plant and saves every cent she can. She has a small group of friends, mainly just “Kathy” (Deneuve) and “Jeff” (Peter Stormare) who would like to develop their relationship despite her obvious, though always polite, reluctance. It might be that she could have achieved her goal but for a violent altercation with “Bill” (David Morse) that sees her facing a criminal trial. Now we know what happened, and I suspect we would all be shouting the best course of action from the auditorium, but will “Selma” listen to anyone? Why? Well she has a rather unique psychological recourse when the going gets tough. She imagines that the scenario is to feature in a piece of musical theatre - and, of course, we know that the joyous lyrics and perfectly choreographed dancing will always provide for an happy ending. What chance here, though? Aside from her singing prowess, Björk also presents us with a character that is simultaneously confident and vulnerable at the same time. “Selma” is shy yet outgoing, she has a determination to see her son gets his treatment at all costs, but still has time to dream of being “Maria” (as in Julie Andrews). Now I didn't love the jarring, hand-held, photography; there is a curious frostiness to the look of the film - despite the glowing efforts from the underused Deveuve and I can’t pretend that I fully grasped quite why the dispute with “Bill” followed the path it did, but I still found I cared for this young woman and about what happened to her as her declining sight seemed to become symbolic of something more, something quite sad. It does take it’s time, but there is some humour wrapped up in this frequently quite dark analysis of not just human spirit and resilience but of 1960s small town America. Perhaps singing “My Favourite Things” does work?