Dancer in the Dark

Alan Miller

One did not have to be part of the film industry to have noticed all the fuss pertaining to Dancer in the Dark after its success at Cannes.

Björk, who won best actress at Cannes, declared it would be her last acting role. The division between the writer-director Von Trier, the leading impressario of the Dogme crew, and Björk, was an offscreen drama almost as poignant as the one on screen. Superlatives and the film industry can often go hand in hand. This, while understandable at the level of marketing and PR, is disconcerting. Lizzie Franke, director of The Edinburgh Film Festival hallowed Von Trier's contribution to the film industry as one of the most important of recent times. One article called Björk the most visually inspired and exciting actress in the world.

Well, we all know that the fusion of pop stars and film works wonders for profile and 'bank-ability'. Does it, however, work from the point of view of dramatic impact, subtlety, tension, passion and the myriad of other highs and lows one hopes for in the best of the pack? Despite the fact that I find Björk remarkably annoying, Dancer in the Dark manages to score high in all of these areas. A myriad of contradictions and juxtaposed emotions, this film manages to confront many of our sensibilities and most cherished values.

From the word go we are thrown off key. The Odeon was playing Rogers and Hammerstein's 'Raindrops and Roses' from The Sound of Music as we were being seated. I was with the director of the London Film Festival and had only really noticed this subliminally, a somewhat annoying cognitive itch. Then, a dark screen with dramatic music, the industry launch (with an audience including Robert Carlyle, amongst others) was reminiscent of... Star Wars (!). This profound orchestral ensemble with a dark screen immediately made us uncomfortable and prepared us for what was to come. It must be said that Von Trier has managed to surprise us with this strange affair. We expect the jerky camera angles and dizzying camera pans that is the staple of Dogme. Bleak, washed-out colours and landscape are also supposed to be par for the course. But a Bollywood style musical in the heart of 1950s Montana? Or is it a more bleak story jumping to Gap-style adverts in Scandanavia?

However one attempts to describe this 'uber-landscape', this magical mystery non-landscape, we are caught off guard. We are not prepared for the trajectory Von Trier takes us on. Initially it seems as though we are going to get superficial stereotypes and poor acting. Then we are jolted by David Morse's confession as Bill, the wholesome, upstanding police officer whose wife has spent his inheritance and is relentlessly continuing to buy, buy, buy. Björk, playing the diligent yet dreamy mother, lets us in on her secret here, too. 'Mum's the word', Morse tells her.

Björk, being the bastion of truth, moral rightness and upstanding, does not flinch from this promise for the entire film. We are at turns alarmed, enraged and depressed by this commitment and this is why Von Trier has hit such a clear bullseye with Dancer. In an age where almost nobody is prepared to stand by an idea or a promise, where all regard even the notion of this as folly at best, here we have a woman who will not betray a friend regardless of his actions and the implications for her and her son - not until we have the explosion of this untenable scenario, when all of our heroine's doors are being closed in her face. And even then she maintains a strength of character and will and integrity.

This is a story of the hypocrisy of the many and the lone, often quirky voice of the estranged soul. It is a tale about friendship, relationships, love, family, betrayal, and transcending it all. A Hindi epic? Elements of it certainly are. The clever use of fusing mechanical sounds into musical beats and bass line, although not new, is excellently conveyed in the factory. The dreamlike qualities of this film sharply convey the idea that it can be far easier to live in fantasy than reality. Oh what a camp fantasy world, though! Is it the 'Shake and Vac' mother on revenge, or a send-up of Grease (see the car fixing scene)? It is certainly tributary to golden Hollywood musicals, with a postmodern twenty-first century signature. A train scene is incredible, with the two young lovers and the charming song 'I have seen'. Here, Björk's haunting howls are at their most effective.

Vincent Paterson has done a fine job with the choreography, conveying slow motion at one moment and Bedknobs and Broomsticks at others. Catherine Deneuve complements Björk beautifully (in every way) as her best friend and fellow worker. There is a fair dose of tongue-in-cheek all round, from the opening scene where a director complains that Björk can't sing and act to all of the numbers. This premiere will go down in history, not least because at the climax the sound went due to a blown fuse (a wonderful extended moment where we were all united in our shared experience), and because this is such an anachronistic film.

Paula Jalfon and Colin McCabe from Minerva Pictures have made a documentary on The Dogme 'collective,' which sheds some interesting light on the people behind these films. What we can be sure of is that we will see far more of Von Trier in the future. Peter Jensinck, the producer, half-joked that they could not afford to shoot it on film or in America, and this homemade style has only added to the attraction. Film Festival director Lizzie Franke told us how Dancer in the Dark illustrates that cinema can still be about passion, and ideas that stimulate us and force us to confront our world. How true.