By Lars von Trier
September 2001
Macmillan, UK
ISBN: 0-7522-1930-8
153 pages, illustrated
$17.95 paper original
Dancer in the Dark is the emotive story of Selma, a Czech immigrant working in a factory in a rural American town. Selma spends every spare moment working to support her son, Gene, and her father back home, but music provides her salvation from the toils of daily life. She can hear it wherever she goes-in the whirring of the factory machines or in the clatter of a train. When she wins the role of Maria in a local production of The Sound of Music she is overjoyed, daydreaming through her shift until she can leave for rehearsals. But in spite of her spirited attitude to life, Selma hides a terrible secret. It is only when she shares this secret with her friend, Bill, who also makes a confession of his own, that events take a tragic turn.
Winner of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, Dancer in the Dark
is written and directed by Lars von Trier and stars Björk in her award-winning
film debut. Includes 13 color photographs.
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