Tears flowed and the crowd rose to its feet in a rapturous
standing ovation at the screening of Danish director Lars Van
Trier's emotional roller coaster "Dancer in the Dark", starring
Icelandic pop singer Bjork and French actress Catherine
Deneuve. Like Van Trier's 1996 Golden Palm entry "Breaking the
Waves", "Dancer in the Dark" is a melodrama in which the
self-sacrifice of the lead woman character ends in tragedy. Bjork plays
a Czech immigrant and single mother in 1960s rural America who
saves her paltry factory earnings for an eye operation for her son, who
suffers from the same hereditary disease that is making her go blind.
Her daydreams of musical comedies - an escape from her bleak
existence - are played out in traditional style with songs written and
sung by Bjork herself. The sensation created by the film has made it
a favorite for the Golden Palm.
Photo by R. Shroeder