Medea Dancer in the Dark

Von Tier pays homage to legendary filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer in Medea (1988). Dancer in the Dark (2000), a triple award winner at Cannes, features pop music maverick Bjˆrk in a revisionist musical melodrama. Fellow Dane and filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer has always been von Trier's deepest artistic inspiration. For the criminally underseen Medea, von Trier pays tribute to his vision by faithfully filming the adaptation of Euripides' tragedy Dreyer had written and planned to film. Director John Waters called the result a "beautifully muddy masterpiece." (1988; 76 mins.)

Von Trier's Dancer in the Dark swept the Cannes Film Festival in 2000, taking the awards for best film, best actress, and also for its soundtrack. Bjork, who also wrote music for the film, stars as a mother who makes sacrifice after sacrifice for her son. With David Morse, Catherine Deneuve, Peter Stormare, and Joel Grey. (2000; 137 mins.)