Dancer in the Dark

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Year:	2000
Country of origin:	Varied
Director:	Lars von Trier
Genre:	Tragic musical drama
Starring:	Björk, Catherine Deneuve, David Morse
Rating:	5/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168629/
Tagline:	You don't need eyes to see.
Favourite line:	"In a musical, nothing dreadful ever happens."

Lars Von Trier, most renowned for his Dogma '95 principles which are exploited in films such as The Idiots, crafts a studied, harrowing, extraordinary movie about a woman whom life deals so many cruel blows in such a short space of time, you cannot fail but be moved.

Bjork plays Selma, a factory worker who fantasises about one day starring in a big musical. She's almost completely blind, though hides the fact for fear of losing her job.
The condition is hereditary, so she's saving money to get her little boy an operation that will save his sight in later life.
The husband of the couple who lease her out a trailer to live in on their own property is a cop, but he's desperately short of money and, by tricking Selma into thinking he has gone from the trailer he discovers where she hides her savings. He steals the cash, and so begins a downward spiral of events that can only end one way - in tragedy.

Mesmeric performances all round - really, Bjork is a revelation, and she's soooo cute. I think I might secretly be in love with her. Don't tell Mi anyone - and expertly staged direction.
The musical scenes are used to great effect, counter-pointing the absolute, unrelenting bleakness of the rest of the movie.
The last thirty minutes are some of the most painful I have ever endured as, slowly but surely, Selm'a downfall is secured.
Grim and intelligent, this will shatter the sturdiest of hearts.