YMMV / Dancer in the Dark

• Alternative Character Interpretation: While it's never stated or implied in the movie, some critics have speculated Selma suffers from a slight mental handicap due her extremely childish behavior.
• Americans Hate Tingle: This movie got a bad reception in the UK and didn't sell well in there, arguably due to media surrounding the Hostility on the Set between Björk and Lars von Trier.
• Award Snub: Björk's performance was overlooked by the Academy Awards, though it was awarded the Best Actress prize at Cannes.
• Awesome Music: The first dance number "Cvalda"; Selma (Björk)'s elaborate dance number atop a moving train about how she is going blind and no longer needs her glasses: "I've Seen It All."
• Harsher in Hindsight: The amount of Hostility on the Set discussion becomes this when Björk would reveal that von Trier sexually harassed her as well during the production of the movie. It was also a factor in her refusal to return to acting, although she did state that she would like to do acting again, just not with von Trier.
• One-Scene Wonder: Joel Grey plays Selma's Czech musical idol.
• The Scrappy: Bill for indirectly getting Selma executed.
• She Really Can Act: Björk really surprised people for how well she was able to play the role of Selma. Even those who hate von Trier's work for his usual film traits will agree he did an amazing job with Björk with this movie.
• Tear Jerker: Suggested double bill: this movie and Grave of the Fireflies.
• The Woobie: Selma, just so much.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Selma. In the pursuit of paying for her son's condition that will blind him years down the road unless he gets surgery within several weeks, she opts to reject any halfway-competent defenders (who may well go on to waive their fee) in a trial where she faces execution, and then goes on to further sabotage her own defense by blatantly lying on the stand, on top of refusing to just tell the truth about Bill's finances.
  • On a more day-to-day basis, Selma works in a factory that stamps sheet-metal. Not only is she almost completely blind (and absolutely too blind to safely perform the job), but she routinely slips into musical fantasies that endanger both herself and others as she is left unable to properly perceive what is happening around her.

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