5. Dancer In The Dark (2000)
Bjork stars as Selma - a Czech immigrant living in Washington State in 1964. She works in a factory and no one knows she is going blind and saving up money for her son to have a sight saving operation because he has inherited her condition. Selma slips into weird imaginations and fantasies whenever she is bored or upset. She lives in a trailer in a spot of land owned by Bill and his wife Linda. Eventually folk around her begin to realise how bad her eyesight is deteriorating. Bill knows that Selma has been stashing money away. Linda is a shopaholic and Bill needs money to fund her lifestyle and pay the bills. He spies on Selma to see where she is hiding her money. Selma's bad luck continues - she is fired from her job over a mistake he makes. She is ousted from her trailer by an angry Linda who thinks she is having an affair with Bill. Selma sees Bill counting money and realises it is her money. Selma tries to take her money back but Linda thinks she is trying to steal the money and runs off to get the police. Selma shoots but doesn't kill Bill after he tells her it is the only way she will get the money back. She takes the money and runs to the Blind Institute to pay for her son's operation before she is apprehended by the law. Bill is dead from gunshot wounds at this point. At her trial she is portrayed as a murderess and Communist sympathiser. Her friends find her money and use it to hire a lawyer for Selma but she dismisses the lawyer saying she would rather face the death penalty than let her son go blind. Nevertheless, she is terrified by death and is extremely distressed on the gallows until a friend tells her that her son's operation was a success. Relieved, Selma meets her doom. Another grim as hell masterpiece from Lars von Trier, you can tell from my plot synopsis that Dancer in the Dark is a depressing film. Selma is more sinned against than sinning - that's for sure and to watch her helpless downfall is a major tragedy. You come away from the film feeling very bleak - it is one of the most moving films you will ever see. Bjork is completely believable in her role as Selma and the character's plight is very heart wrenching. It is horrible to witness her turmoil on the gallows - she had come so far and survived so much - just to be snuffed out. The fact that her son has a successful operation is somewhat a consolation in the downfall of Selma, but she didn't deserve all the crap heaped upon her. A tragic film that is brilliant but too depressing to really love.