Dancer in the Dark

The movie, “Dancer in the Dark” opens in the dark with a piece of music for about five minutes. The soft music is played, and the leading character, Selma, is introduced to the audience in a factory. The dark opening symbolizes the eyesight of Selma. She  is suffering from myopia and she is nearly blind. At the end of the movie, it is dark again.　 　 The darkness　 symbolizes her death for the light 　 　 of　 her son.　 In this review, I will discuss the portrayal　 of darkness and colour to show the real and unreal world of Selma respectively in “Dancer in the Dark”.

Selma is living in her unreal world.　 The plot　 is about a Czech woman who is a stranger in   an unknown land.  In the United States, she has no parents and no family name. She gets no family support, 　 but　 she is born with myopia.That is fate! She cannot escape it. She is nearly blind in the opening scene. She possesses  no identity and she is isolated.　 What she has is her son, Gin, who is also without a family name. We do not know who her husband is.　  In order to cure her son’s myopia,　she migrates to the United States　 for 　　 surgery on her  son's eyes. Immigrating to the United States gives her light in darkness. She hopes to cure her son's myopia. Even though her eyesight is deteriorating,  she still works terribly hard in order to save enough money for her son’s surgery.　 She has allocated 　 all her time to　 working, leaving her entertainment and love aside. She can only relax while she is　 singing and dancing.  In the struggle to get  back the stolen money, 　 she kills her  landlord   unintentionally. This is her destiny!　 This is her destiny!　 Selma first gets back the money and pays   a doctor who is going to perform  a surgery on  her son. Selma is soon being caught and sentenced to death for murder. Her friend finds her a better lawyer who has confidence in having a lighter penalty. However, Selma prefers death as employing a lawyer means the money for curing her son would be spent. She wants her son with good eyesight, i.e. light. She gives everything to her son. Finally, Selma faces capital punishment.　 She sings and dances  her way to  the gallows.　　 She is living in her illusion that her son would have  good eyesight. Until the moment of her death, she does not know whether her son would be cured, but she pays with her life for her illusion.　 　

Lars von Triers, the Danish director of "Dancer in the Dark", successfully portrays the real and unreal world　　 to build up a touching atmosphere. The most impressive example is her way home. At first, Selma cycles to and from work. But when her eyesight is deteriorating, she cannot continue to ride a bicycle. She cannot observe the road situation. She then walks. She finds her way home by following train-tracks. She measures the distance between two rails by feet. When the distance turns shorter, she will leave the rails and goes straight home. It is really heartbreaking. Being nearly blind, Selma has to measure her feet to feel the real situation. She cannot tell others as she will be fired by the factory, then she will have no money for her son. This is a sub-plot  in the movie. But the director portrays it with affection. Another example is Selma going  to a  movie. She goes to the movie with her friend, Cathy. She cannot see and therefore cannot watch how the dancers perform magnificently. In order to let her feel the steps, her friend uses fingers to indicate the legs of the dancers, and ‘dance’ on the palm  of Selma's hand. Selma is very delighted as she still can enter  the musical world of the movie, which is her dream world. Selma is filled with joy　as  she still can enter to the musical world of the movie, which is her dream world. Selma is filled with joy　 but how about us? This only makes our hearts sink. The success of this movie is largely due to the touching portrayal of Selma's situation; we sympathize with her.

Apart from the portrayal of Selma's situation, the emotion of the audiences is fluctuating as well. This is because of the musical scenes and colour. This touching drama is filled with musical scenes. Selma likes music. When she hears some sounds with rhythm, even if they are produced by machines in a factory, she would imagine that she was the leading actress of a musical. In fact, in the real world, she could not be an actress because she cannot see. Her unreal world is filled with music and happiness. She transcends to the unreal world by means of dance and music in order to escape from reality when she works　in the factory, walks along rails,  and even on her way to death. But when she comes back to reality, the colour turns dull again. Our feeling is just like the change of colour. With music, we become happier in the unreal world. But when the music has gone, we go back to reality. The absence of  happiness will only make us feel more bitter. The optimistic view of Selma will only make it easier for us to shed tears!

To build up a tense atmosphere, this movie is like a documentary. The director also uses the camera to show   sophisticated feelings of character. Lars von Triers’ movies will never use  a stable camera. The cameras are always manipulated by hand, without any other supporting equipment. This makes the vision unstable but it largely helps to build up a more suppressing atmosphere. By focusing on characters’ faces, we will feel that we are watching a documentary, something that is real in life. We will have a real atmosphere, and easily drop to the heart of the characters. When Selma cries, our hearts cry as well because Selma seems to be really standing in front of us. That is absolutely the contribution of the unstable camera.

All in all, the depressing directing techniques and wonderful cast successfully animate a  sad story. This story shows the Americans discriminated against a Czech in the United States in 1940's.    This movie also shows how great a mother is !