Dancer in the Dark

Dancer in the Dark is a 2000 musical melodrama film written and directed by Lars von Trier. It stars Icelandic musician Björk as a factory worker who suffers from a degenerative eye condition and is saving for an operation to prevent her young son from suffering the same fate. Catherine Deneuve, David Morse, Cara Seymour, Peter Stormare, Siobhan Fallon Hogan and Joel Grey also star. The soundtrack for the film, Selmasongs, was written mainly by Björk, but a number of songs featured contributions from Mark Bell and some of the lyrics were written by von Trier and Sjón. Dancer in the Dark is the third and final installment in von Trier's second trilogy "Golden Heart", following Breaking the Waves (1996) and The Idiots (1998). It was an international co-production among companies based in thirteen European and North American countries and regions. Like the first installment, it was shot with a handheld camera inspired by Dogme 95. Dancer in the Dark premiered at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival and won the Palme d'Or, along with the Best Actress Award for Björk. The film received generally positive reviews, with Björk's performance being widely praised. The song "I've Seen It All" performed and co-written by Björk, with Sjón and von Trier, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, but lost to "Things Have Changed" by Bob Dylan from Wonder Boys.