Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh has risen to the peak of artistic achievements. Although Van Gogh sold only one painting in his life, the aftermath of his work is enormous. Starry Night is one of the most well known images in modern culture as well as being one of the most replicated and sought after prints. From Don McLean’s song ‘Starry, Starry Night’ (Based on the Painting), to the endless number of merchandise products sporting this image, it is nearly impossible to shy away from this amazing painting.

One may begin to ask what features within the painting are responsible for its ever rowing popularity. There are actually several main aspects that intrigue those who view this image, and each factor affects each individual differently. The aspects will be described below:

* 1. There is the night sky filled with swirling clouds, stars ablaze with their own luminescence, and a bright crescent moon. Although the features are exaggerated, this is a scene we can all relate to, and also one that most individuals feel comfortable and at ease with. This sky keeps the viewer’s eyes moving about the painting, following the curves and creating a visual dot to dot with the stars. This movement keeps the onlooker involved in the painting while the other factors take hold.
* 2. Below the rolling hills of the horizon lies a small town. There is a peaceful essence flowing from the structures. Perhaps the cool dark colors and the fiery windows spark memories of our own warm childhood years filled with imagination of what exists in the night and dark starry skies. The center point of the town is the tall steeple of the church, reigning largely over the smaller buildings. This steeple casts down a sense of stability onto the town, and also creates a sense of size and seclusion.
* 3. To the left of the painting there is a massive dark structure that develops an even greater sense of size and isolation. This structure is magnificent when compared to the scale of other objects in the painting. The curving lines mirror that of the sky and create the sensation of depth in the painting. This structure also allows the viewer to interpret what it is. From a mountain to a leafy bush, the analysis of this formation is wide and full of variety.

Van Gogh painted Starry Night while in an Asylum at Saint-Remy in 1889.

During Van Gogh’s younger years (1876-1880) he wanted to dedicate his life to evangelization of those in poverty. Many believe that this religious endeavor may be reflected in the eleven stars of the painting. In Genesis 37:9 the following statement is made:

“And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.”

Whether or not this religious inspiration is true, it is known that the piece is not the only Starry Sky painting that Van Gogh ever created. Gogh was quite proud of a piece he had painted earlier in Arles in 1888 that depicted stars reflecting in the Rhone River. Like Starry Sky this previous piece shares many of the qualities that have made Starry Sky such a popular painting. For instance:

* The stars in the night sky are surrounded with their own orb of light.
* The Reflection of artificial light (new to the time period) from Arles in the river makes the one’s eyes move around the painting; thus keeping the viewer visually involved.
* There are structures in the distant lit up in a warm glow of light.

Starry Night over the Rhone contains one final aspect that is not featured in the Starry Night piece; humans. In the bottom right corner of the painting there is a couple walking along the river. This gives the painting a down to earth feel with a natural quality. Although this painting is not nearly as popular as the seconded Starry Night piece, it still creates a pleasurable and life like environment to look at. It is also resides as a very sought after piece when it is placed with Starry Night and the following painting to create a montage of Van Gogh’s Starry Night works.

Cafe Terrace At Night was also painted in Arles in 1888. The similarities between this piece the previous two are vaguely similar. This piece offers a new type of perspective on the star filled sky.

* The Stars are barely consumed in their own light.
* The bright yellow wall draws in ones attention rather then assisting to move one’s eyes around the painting.
* There is a sense of balance attributed to the dark cityscape silhouette to the right of the painting (Contrasting the bright yellow wall).

Never the less these three paintings have astounded millions of people and remain three of the best works ever to flow from Van Gogh’s paint brush. Each Day hundreds of people crowd around the original paintings located in various art museums to offer their own personal interpretation as to the meaning of the pieces. Although we may never know how Vincent himself truly felt about these paintings, mankind still embraces their greatness.

In art theory, formalism is the concept that a work’s artistic value is entirely determined by its form–the way it is made, its purely visual aspects, and its medium. Formalism emphasizes compositional elements such as color, line, shape and texture rather than realism, context, and content. In visual art, formalism is the concept that everything necessary in a work of art is contained within it. The context for the work, including the reason for its creation, the historical background, and the life of the artist, is considered to be of secondary importance. Formalism plays a part in evaluating art.

HISTORY OF FORMALISM

The concept of formalism can be traced as far back as Plato, who argued that ‘eidos’ (or shape) of a thing included our perceptions of the thing, as well as those sensory aspects of a thing which the human mind can take in. Plato argued that eidos included elements of representation and imitation, since the thing itself could not be replicated. Subsequently, Plato believed that eidos inherently was deceptive.

In 1890, the Post-impressionist painter Maurice Denis wrote in his article ‘Definition of Neo-Traditionism’ that a painting was ‘essentially a flat surface covered in colours arranged in a certain order.’ Denis argued that the painting or sculpture or drawing itself, not the subject of the artistic work, gave pleasure to the mind.

Denis’ emphasis on the form of a work led the Bloomsbury writer Clive Bell to write in his 1914 book, Art, that there was a distinction between a thing’s actual form and its ‘significant form.’ For Bell, recognition of a work of art as representational of a thing was less important than capturing the ‘significant form’, or true inner nature, of a thing. Bell pushed for an art that used the techniques of an artistic medium to capture the essence of a thing (its ‘significant form’) rather than its mere outward appearance.

Throughout the rest of the early part of the 20th Century, European structuralists continued to argue that ‘real’ art was expressive only of a thing’s ontological, metaphysical or essential nature. But European art critics soon began using the word ‘structure’ to indicate a new concept of art. By the 1930s and 1940s, structuralists reasoned that the mental processes and social preconceptions an individual brings to art are more important than the essential, or ‘ideal’, nature of the thing. Knowledge is created only through socialization and thought, they said, and a thing can only be known as it is filtered through these mental processes. Soon, the word ‘form’ was used interchangeably with the word ‘structure’.
Piet Mondrian, Composition No. 10, 1939-42, oil on canvas, 80 x 73 cm, private collection.

In 1940, the American art critic Clement Greenberg, in an influential piece in Partisan Review, argued that the value of art was located in its form. The representational aspects of a work of art are less important than those aspects which embody a thing’s ‘internal identity’. This led Greenberg to the conclusion that abstraction was the purest art of all.

Greenberg also perceived that impressionism had blurred the boundaries between various art forms. This led to a ‘confusion of the arts’, he wrote, and a lack of purity in artistic endeavor. Defining a work of art by its ‘art form’, or medium, limits a work’s artistic possibilities to the nature of that medium. Yet, this also allows the work of art to stand alone on its own merits.

FORMALISM TODAY

The concept of formalism in art continued to evolve through the 20th century. Some art critics argue for a return to the Platonic definition for Form as a collection of elements which falsely represent the thing itself and which are mediated by art and mental processes. A second view argues that representational elements must be somewhat intelligible, but must still aim to capture the object’s ‘Form’. A third view argues for a diale-discursive ontological knowledge. Instead, structuralists focused on how the creation of art communicate the idea behind the art. Whereas formalists manipulated elements within a medium, structuralists purposely mixed media and included context as an element of the artistic work. Whereas formalism’s focus was the aesthetic experience, structuralists played down response in favor of communication.

Structuralism’s focus on the ‘grammar’ of art reaches as far back as the Post-Impressionist work of Marcel Duchamp. In many ways, structuralism draws on the tools of formalism without adopting the theory behind them.

Piet Mondrian, Composition No. 10, 1939-42, oil on canvas, 80 x 73 cm, private collection.

BALLROOM DANCE

refers to a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the globe. Its performance and entertainment aspects are also widely enjoyed on stage, in film, and on television.

FOLK DANCE

* They are dances performed at social functions by people with little or no professional training, often to traditional music or music based on traditional music.
* They are not designed for public performance or the stage, although traditional folkdances may be later arranged and set for stage performances.
* Their execution is dominated by an inherited tradition rather than by innovation (although like all folk traditions they do evolve)
* New dancers often learn informally by observing others and/or receiving help from others.

MODERN DANCE

is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. Although the term Modern dance has also been applied to a category of 20th Century ballroom dances, Modern dance as a term usually refers to 20th century concert dance.

POLKA

The polka is a lively Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in the Czech lands and is still a common genre in Lithuanian, Czech, Croatian, Slovenian, Polish, German, Hungarian, Austrian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Russian, and Slovakian folk music. Versions are also found in the Nordic countries, Ireland and Latin America.

In light classical music, many polkas were composed by both Johann Strauss I and his son Johann Strauss II; a couple of well-known ones were composed by Bedřich Smetana, and Jaromír Vejvoda, the author of “Škoda lásky” (“Roll Out the Barrel”).

The name comes from the Czech word půlka—literally, little half—a reference to the short half-steps featuring in the dance. The word’s familiar form has been influenced by the similarity to the Czech word polka, meaning “Polish woman”. The name has led to the dance’s origin being sometimes mistakenly attributed to Poland. It should also not be confused with the polska, a Swedish 3-4_rhythm_metre_meter_time_measure.ogg 3/4-beat (help·info) dance with Polish roots; cf. polka-mazurka. A related dance is the redowa. Polkas almost always have a 2-4_rhythm_metre_meter_time_measure.ogg 2/4 (help·info) time signature. Popular music has also been parodied several times by “Weird Al” Yankovic in the style of polka.

SALSA DANCE

is a dance for Salsa music created by Spanish-speaking people from the Caribbean. Salsa dancing mixes African and European dance influences through the music and dance fusions that are the roots of Salsa: Son, Guaguancó, Rumba, Boogaloo, Pachanga, Guaracha, Plena, Bomba.

Salsa is normally a partner dance, although there are recognized solo forms, line dancing (suelta), and Rueda de Casino where groups of couples exchange partners in a circle. Salsa can be improvised or performed with a set routine.

The name “Salsa” is the Spanish word for sauce, connoting (in American Spanish) a spicy flavor. Salsa also suggests a “mixture” of ingredients, though this meaning is not found in most stories of the term’s origin.

CENTERING

This is fundamental to your ability to dance well. This is maintaining a sense of your own body center that holds you together as you move. It allows you to move gracefully and freely. This means you have to have the ability to move, to hold, to organize yourself around your own physical body. If you are centered you can eventually learn how to do anything. If you are not centered you may develop beautiful looking arms and legs but never be able to move well. Liken your center to home. If you don’t have a sense of home you will probably get lost every time you go out.Your body needs to be balanced like a see-saw. Position fluctuates between individuals. Center for Middle Eastern Dance is in the solar plexus. Every movement has to go through center. This is what makes it Orientale or eastern. Your natural base is approximately just below the navel but the movements for this dance form come from the solar plexus. Everything emanates from there. Start by feeling how your arms and legs work from the same central point in the back. Moving from your center will make movements easier to control.

BALANCE

Balance is concerned with more than balancing on one leg. Your aim is to achieve and constantly maintain an inner balance of the whole body. It is tension of mutual support among all parts that brings the whole together in a new way. It is an inner relationship between all the points of your body which you hold in your awareness. It is not something you do once in awhile. It is constant. A sense of balance whether you are moving or standing. In the actual act of balancing, if you can find inner balance , you are nearly there. If you are aware internally the need for the sensation of balance, you should be able to get it. * Remember, balancing in both states is an active state.

POSTURE

To achieve this element you need to change your perception of your body, there is often a wide discrepancy between what feels right and what looks right. Dancers work all their dance live on their posture, also called alignment. It is the key to balance and movement. Your posture not only reveals your feelings but can also reveal feelings in you. Learn how to stand properly. You will actually feel brighter and more aware.

GESTURE

Gesture involves using the body as an expressive instrument to communicate feelings and ideas in patterns of movement. With subtle gestures and postural attitudes we show cooperation, give confidence to friends or display aggression to enemies. Arms crossed over chest are a protective wall. Hands on hips mean “show me”, fists on hips is even more challenging. Anger patterns are depicted very differently form joy or sadness. Weight on one hip -waiting. Hands out in front you ready to give or receive. Raising shoulders is a gesture of not knowing or caring. Shoulders forward expresses pain. Tapping foot boredom. Observe! Recognize what the body is saying.

RHYTHM

Finding rhythm is largely a matter of paying attention. It is something everybody has, though, some people are not as aware or sensitive to it. Our hearts beat to a rhythm, our lungs breathe to another. Rhythm is essential for a dancer. Pay attention! Generally the beat is carried by the drum. Make sure you are right on the beat, not slightly late. All the work going into making a beat has already been completed by the time you hear it. In fact to get it right, you have to anticipate the beat slightly. Feel as if you are making the beat with your body as well as hearing it. Try to be at one with it, rather than dancing to it. It is the rhythm and the beat of the dance that form the “threads” which allow you to memorize the structure of the dance.

MOVING IN SPACE

You need to be as aware of the space around you as a cat. You have to move with care and awareness, gauging the space. Space is not just empty air but a tangible element that you move through. Consider the space an area you must go through. Consciously go through space. Feel your accomplishment as a journey through space. You will express thoughts and emotions. Actually press your feelings out through your torso and limbs in such a way as to show other people how we are feeling and to satisfy our desire of movement. Our muscles feel better when they are used, and once we get used to moving them, the whole body will respond by working in harmony with itself; to dance.

BREATHING

Breathing is crucial to dance. Not only does it bring oxygen to the body but it also gives your movements fluency and harmony. It is an expressive tool. Calm slow breathing suggests a certain degree of self-control. Denotes a specific quality of movement. A movement with breath has a controlled and considered extension of time, a clear beginning and end no matter how fast or slow the phrase. A phrase without breath looks stiff and mechanical. It is important to learn how to do two or three things at the same time. You frequently have to divide your attention while dancing. You must learn to breathe deeply expanding your ribs at the back of the body rather than from the front. This will also give a more emotional, organic look.

LINE

is one of the most basic art elements. Lines can be used for different purposes within a work of art.

Contour lines can be used to define the border of a shape. These lines are also often referred to as outlines.

A line can also express emotion and character based on how heavy or light, scratchy or smooth, angular or curvy it appears. Different types of line express different emotive qualities. Combining lines in a series can also convey the idea of texture.

Lines can also be used to create shadows in an drawn image. Hatching is a method of drawing shadows using a series of parallel lines positioned closely together. Cross-Hatching is another shading method in which intersecting lines are drawn in a close proximity to express a dark value.

SHAPE

Value refers to the lightness or darkness of an item within a work of art. The idea of value can be applied to colorful works of art and works of art that use only shades of black and white.

Most photo-realistic artworks will employ a variety of values within the work to express the idea of light and shadow moving across a form.

Some more expressive artworks will use value to convey emotion or direct the eye to a focal point. Darker values have more visual weight than lighter values and the eye will always be pulled to those areas with darker values.

TEXTURE

The element of texture applies to how an object feels or appears to feel.

Texture can be either implied or actual. Implied texture expresses the idea of how a surface might feel. For example, a painting of a blanket might convey the idea that the blanket is soft. Actual texture, on the other hand, is texture that can actually be felt. For example, a ceramic bowl might feature a carved texture that could be felt when holding that bowl.

COLOR

Color refers to the visual perception of light being reflected from a surface of an artwork. In the most basic classification, colors can be divided into three groups: primary, secondary and tertiary.

Primary colors are those colors from which all other colors are created. Yellow, blue and red are primary colors.

Secondary colors are created when two primary colors are combined in equal parts. Green, purple and orange are secondary colors.

Tertiary colors are created by combining a primary color with a secondary color. Red-orange is an example of a tertiary color created by combining red and orange.

A color at its strongest value is known as a hue. When white is added to a hue, it becomes a tint. When black is added to a hue, it becomes a shade.

VALUE

Value refers to the relative lightness or darkness of pigments. This black and white (also called grayscale) image of the painting shows the range of values the artist used to create this work. The light values in the soldier’s cloak and the swords and the dark values in the background are clearly visible.

PATTERN

is the repetition of a shape, form, or texture across a work of art. The light reflecting off of the waves in the water creates a pattern in the bottom half of the image.

RYHTHM

Rhythm represents the easy movement of the viewer’s eyes following a regular arrangement or reproduction of elements in the art work. There are several ways to move the eye through a painting, the artist needs to do this so the viewer will appreciate the painting as a whole and while doing so they can stimulate the viewer in a certain way. The predictability of the rhythm or tempo can also be achieved by how the elements are placed within the composition. If elements are placed in a predictable manner they form a pattern. This pattern resembles a musical movement or fluid and flowing appreciation of the artwork. This pattern denotes order, the sequence of the order is what creates the ‘tempo’ of the rhythm.

Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber based on Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot. It introduced the song standard “Memory.”

The musical first opened in the West End in 1981 and then on Broadway in 1982, in each case directed by Trevor Nunn and choreographed by Gillian Lynne. It won numerous awards, including both the Laurence Olivier Award and the Tony Award for Best Musical. The London production ran for 21 years and the Broadway production for eighteen years, in both cases setting historical long-run records. Actresses Elaine Paige and Betty Buckley became particularly associated with the musical. One actress, Marlene Danielle, performed in the Broadway production for its entire run (from 1982 until 2000).

Cats has been performed around the world in numerous productions and has been translated into more than 20 languages. It was also made into a 1998 video that has been broadcast on television.

Principle Characters

* Asparagus / Gus – The theatre cat. The same actor usually plays Asparagus as a general chorus cat, and a younger version of Gus, up to the song “Gus the Theatre Cat”, in which he portrays an older Gus, and Growltiger, then afterwards continues to play younger Gus, “Asparagus.”
* Bombalurina – A saucy red female. She sings a duet with Demeter.
* Bustopher Jones – A fat cat, a “twenty-five pounder.” Dresses in a snappy tuxedo and spats. Respected by all, as the upper class “St James’ Street Cat.” In most productions, the actor playing Gus also plays Bustopher, though in early productions the part was handled by the actor playing Old Deuteronomy.
* Demeter – A very skittish female cat.
* Grizabella – The former Glamour Cat who has lost her sparkle and now only wants to be accepted. Grizabella left the tribe when she was younger to see the world for herself. In doing so she faced the harshness of the outside world, as well as the equally harsh status of pariah in the cats’ society.
* Griddlebone – A fluffy white Persian cat, and Growltiger’s lover in “Growltiger’s Last Stand,” where she sings “The Ballad of Billy McCaw” or the mock Italian aria “In Una Tepida Notte” (depending on production) with Growltiger. Almost always played by the actress playing Jellylorum. Does not appear in productions which omit “Growltiger’s Last Stand”.
* Growltiger – A theatrical character Gus recalls playing in his youth, and who appears in Gus’ memory of the production of “Growltiger’s Last Stand.” In some productions he is portrayed as a vicious pirate; in others he’s more of a parody of a pirate. Does not appear in productions which omit “Growltiger’s Last Stand.”
* Jellylorum – A female who watches out for the kittens, along with Jennyanydots. She has a close relationship with Gus. Named after T. S. Eliot’s own cat. The actress who plays Jellylorum usually also plays Griddlebone in “Growltiger’s Last Stand.”
* Jemima – A kitten who is also a Rum Tum Tugger fan and friends with Electra, Etcetera, and Victoria. Can be sometimes used interchangeably with Sillabub, though Jemima is used in most international productions — Sillabub was a name created for the American productions. However, the Japanese, Australian (in particular the Brisbane cast, who have Jemima as just a dancer) and Swedish casts include both Sillabub and Jemima as different characters.
* Jennyanydots – The old Gumbie cat. She sits all day and rules the mice and cockroaches at night, forcing them to undertake helpful or useful functions, or creative projects, to curb their naturally destructive habits.
* Macavity – He is the show’s only real villain. The character is a literary allusion to the Sherlock Holmes character Professor Moriarty. Usually played by the same actor as Plato or Admetus.
* Mr. Mistoffelees – A young tom with magical powers. His signature dance move is “The Conjuring Turn,” twenty-four fouettés en tournant. In the UK production, Mistoffelees has an alter-ego named Quaxo, who appears as a general chorus cat throughout the show, and is dressed slightly differently. In other productions Quaxo is a separate character.
* Mungojerrie – Half of a pair of notorious cat-burglars, with Rumpelteazer. Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer are most commonly remembered for their unique dance number where at the end, they both latch onto each other and do a “double windmill” across the stage.
* Munkustrap – The show’s de facto narrator. A black and silver tom who is storyteller and protector of the Jellicle tribe. He is thought to be second in command after Old Deuteronomy.
* Old Deuteronomy – The lovable patriarch of the Jellicle Tribe. He is very old and dignified. The leader of the Jellicle Tribe.
* Rumpelteazer – Female half of a pair of notorious cat-burglars, with Mungojerrie.
* The Rum Tum Tugger – The ladies’ tom. His temperament ranges from clownish to serious, and often sexual depending on the production; however, he is always flirtatious, and usually portrayed as a feline equivalent of Mick Jagger or Elvis Presley, and recognisable by his wild mane.
* Skimbleshanks – The railway cat. An active orange tabby cat, who lives on the trains and acts as an unofficial chaperone to such an extent he is considered rather indispensable to the train and station employees.
* Victoria – A pure white kitten gifted in dancing. The “official” Jellicle Ball begins with her solo dance.

Other Characters

* Admetus – A young cat, who in many productions, also doubles as Macavity. Generally productions have either Admetus or Plato filling the same function.
* Alonzo – A black and white tom in most productions; in the US and the early European productions, he is depicted as being a black and gold tabby. Sometimes considered the third in command after Munkustrap as he also fights Macavity.
* Bill Bailey – Primarily from the London production, a young white and brown male. Often able to do acrobatics. interchangeable with the character of Tumblebrutus.
* Carbucketty – The name was one of T. S. Eliot’s ideas for cat names for a “knockabout cat.” Sometimes interchangeable with the character of Pouncival.
* Cassandra – A brown and cream Abyssinian queen, with a braided tail. Unique and somewhat mysterious.
* Coricopat – Male twin to Tantomile. The conventional stage action suggests that Coricopat and Tantomile are psychic cats, they sense the presence of danger before it becomes apparent to the other characters.
* Electra – A tabby kitten who seems to be friends with Etcetera as well as a fan of Rum Tum Tugger.
* Etcetera – A happy, energetic kitten who is a big Rum Tum Tugger fan. She is generally a pale tabby pattern.
* Exotica – A female character who first appeared in the video version, and was a role initially created specially for Femi Taylor. The character also appears in the South African and World Tour.
* George – A young patchy male kitten that only appeared in the London production.
* Ghengis or Gilbert – The leader of the crew of Siamese cats who lead to Growltiger’s demise. Usually played by the actor who portrays Mungojerrie, Tumblebrutus, or Coricopat. In Japan Gilbert is a separate character.
* Plato – Teenage male cat; the actor usually doubles as Macavity. He does a pas de deux with Victoria during the Jellicle Ball.
* Pouncival – A playful tom kitten, generally interchangeable with Carbucketty.
* Rumpus Cat – A spiky-haired cat with glowing red eyes, as mentioned in “The Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles,” seen as a sort of superhero figure among the Jellicles. Does not appear in productions which omit the song “The Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles.” Usually played by Alonzo or Admetus. In some productions the actor is launched through the floor stage via a “star trap”.
* Sillabub, the Broadway version of Jemima, although the Japanese and Swedish productions include both.
* Tumblebrutus – A playful young adult cat in his prime. Tumblebrutus is a brown and white tabby, characterized by a large, flame-like brown patch over his left eye. Very energetic, this young tom is featured in many dance numbers and has many featured soloes throughout the show. He is the Broadway version of Bill Bailey.
* Tantomile – Female twin of Coricopat. The name was created by T.S. Eliot for a “Witch’s Cat”.
* Victor – Primarily a character from the London production, a young grey male.

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Part 11

Dancer in the Dark is a Danish musical drama film released in 2000. It was directed by Lars von Trier and stars Icelandic singer Björk, Catherine Deneuve, David Morse, Vladica Kostic, Cara Seymour and Peter Stormare. The soundtrack for the film, released as the album Selmasongs, was written mainly by Björk, but a number of songs featured contributions from Mark Bell and the lyrics were by Lars Von Trier and Sjón. Three songs from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music were also used in the film.

This film was the first film to have an overture since The Black Hole and Star Trek: The Motion Picture, both produced in 1979.

Dancer in the Dark is the third film in Lars von Trier’s ‘Golden Heart Trilogy’; the previous two films were Breaking the Waves (1996) and The Idiots (1998). The film was an international co-production between companies based in several countries: Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, United States, United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Norway. It was shot with a hand held camera, and was somewhat inspired by a Dogme 95 look.

Dancer in the Dark premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to standing ovations and controversy and was awarded the Palme d’Or, along with the Best Actress award for Björk. The song “I’ve Seen It All”, with Thom Yorke, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song.

Cast

* Björk as Selma Ježková
* Catherine Deneuve as Kathy (Cvalda)
* David Morse as Bill Houston
* Peter Stormare as Jeff
* Joel Grey as Oldrich Novy
* Cara Seymour as Linda Houston
* Vladica Kostic as Gene Jezek
* Jean-Marc Barr as Norman
* Vincent Paterson as Samuel
* Siobhan Fallon as Brenda
* Željko Ivanek as District attorney
* Udo Kier as Dr. Porkorny
* Jens Albinus as Morty
* Reathel Bean as Judge
* Michael Flessas as Angry Man
* Mette Berggreenas Receptionist
* Lars Michael Dinesen as Defense attorney
* Katrine Falkenberg as Suzan
* Stellan Skarsgård as the Doctor

Plot

The film is set in the state of Washington in 1964 and focuses on Selma Ježková (Björk), a Czech immigrant who has moved to the United States with her son, Gene Ježek (Kostic). They live a life of poverty as Selma works at a factory with her good friend Kathy, whom she nicknames Cvalda (Deneuve). She rents a trailer home on the property of town policeman Bill Houston (Morse) and his wife Linda Houston (Seymour). She is also pursued by the shy but persistent Jeff (Stormare) who also works at the factory.

What no one in Selma’s life knows is that she has a hereditary degenerative disease which is gradually causing her to go blind. She has been saving up every penny that she makes (in a tin can in her kitchen) to pay for an operation which will prevent her young son from suffering the same fate.

To escape the misery of her daily life Selma accompanies Cvalda to the local cinema where together they watch fabulous Hollywood musicals (or more accurately, Selma listens as Cvalda describes them to her, to the aggravation of the other theater patrons, or acts out the dance steps upon Selma’s hand using her fingers). In her day-to-day life, when things are too boring or upsetting, Selma slips into daydreams or perhaps a trance-like state where she imagines the ordinary circumstances and individuals around her have erupted into elaborate musical theater numbers. These songs, as do many of Björk’s songs, use some sort of real life noise (from factory machines buzzing to the sound of a flag rapping against a flag pole in the wind) as an underlying rhythm.

Unfortunately, Selma slips into one such trance while working at the factory. When her machine breaks she is fired from her job. Soon Jeff and Cvalda begin to realize that Selma can barely see at all. Additionally, Bill reveals to Selma that his materialistic wife, Linda, has exhausted all of his savings and asks Selma for a loan, which she declines to give. He regrets telling Selma his secret, so to comfort Bill, Selma reveals her secret blindness, hoping that together they can share one another’s secret. Bill then hides in the corner of Selma’s home, knowing she can’t see him, and watches as she puts some money in her kitchen tin.

The next day when Selma comes home she finds the tin is empty. She goes next door to report the theft to Bill and Linda only to hear Linda discussing how Bill has brought home their safe deposit box to count their savings. She additionally reveals that Bill has “confessed” his affair with Selma, and that Selma must move out immediately. Knowing that Bill was broke and that the money he is counting must be hers, she confronts him and attempts to take the money back. He draws a gun on her and in a struggle he is wounded.

Linda discovers the two of them and, assuming that Selma is attempting to steal the money, runs off to tell the police at Bill’s command. Bill then begs Selma to take his life, telling her that this will be the only way she will ever reclaim the money that he stole from her. Selma shoots at him several times, but due to her blindness manages to only maim Bill further. In the end she performs a coup de grâce with the safe deposit box. (In one of the scenes, Selma slips into a trance and imagines that Bill’s corpse stands up and slow dances with her, urging her to run to freedom.) She does, and takes the money to the Institute for the Blind to pay for her son’s operation before the police can take it from her.

Selma is caught and eventually put on trial. It is here that she is pegged as a Communist sympathizer and murderess. Although she tells as much truth about the situation as she can, she refuses to reveal Bill’s secret, saying that she had promised not to. Additionally, when her claim that the reason she didn’t have any money was because she had been sending it to her father in Czechoslovakia is proven false, she is convicted and given the death penalty.

Cvalda and Jeff eventually put the pieces of the puzzle together and get back Selma’s money, using it instead to pay for a trial lawyer who can free her. Selma becomes furious and refuses the lawyer, opting to face the death penalty rather than letting her son go blind. In the end Selma is hanged, after finding out that the operation went through and that Gene will see. Selma sings the final song of the movie on the gallows with no musical accompaniment, and after her death, a curtain is drawn in front of her body.

Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) is a short experimental film directed by wife and husband team, Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid. The film’s narrative is circular, and repeats a number of psychologically symbolic images, including a flower on a long driveway, a key falling, a door unlocked, a knife in a loaf of bread, a mysterious Grim Reaper-like cloaked figure with a mirror for a face, a phone off the hook and an ocean.

Background and production

The film was the product of Deren’s and Hammid’s desire to create an avant garde personal film that dealt with devastating psychological problems, like the French avant-garde films of the 1920s such as Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel’s Un Chien Andalou. Deren’s use of symbolism in her films relates to her father’s preoccupation with psychology and her desire to appeal to her father’s interests. Deren and Hammid wrote, directed and performed in the film. Although Deren is usually credited as its principal artistic creator, filmmaker Stan Brakhage, who knew the couple, has claimed in his book Film at Wit’s End that Meshes was in fact largely Hammid’s creation, and that their marriage began to suffer when Deren received more credit. The original print had no score. However, a musical score influenced by classical Japanese music was added by Deren’s third husband, Teiji Ito, in 1959.

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