The Dance

Sep 25, 1998

1h 23m

★ 5.5

Overview

Águst Guðmundsson directed this Icelandic period drama, adapted from the short story We Must Dance by William Heinesen, and set on an island in 1913. Pétur (Gunnar Helgason) narrates, recalling the days when mainlanders arrived for a wedding. Flirtatious Sirsa (Pálína Jónsdottir) marries Harald (Dofri Hermannsson), son of a wealthy landowner on the island. Offshore, a ship is sinking, so the men form a rescue party, returning with the captain, the engineer, and several sailors. With a storm gathering, the engineer dies. The clergyman requests an end to the festivities as a mark of respect. Sirsa protests, but her new husband brings the celebration to a halt. The group then fragments into different activities, drunken or otherwise, and the sensual Sirsa directs her attention toward the handsome Ívar (Baldur Trausti Hreinsson). The film's score features traditional folk music.

Genres

Drama

Comedy

Production Companies

IsFilm

The Dance Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Pétur

Gunnar Helgason

Vítus

Joi Johannsson

Hólófernes

Benedikt Erlingsson

Ívar

Baldur Trausti Hreinsson

Sýslumaður

Magnús Ólafsson

Nikulás

Gísli Halldórsson

Sirsa

Pálína Jónsdóttir

Haraldur

Dofri Hermannsson

Djákni

Arnar Jónsson

Móðir Haraldar

Þórunn Magnea Magnúsdóttir

Theodóra

Björk Jakobsdóttir

Sjómannsekkja

Guðrún Þ. Stephensen

Based on Jim Harrison's book, "Farmer". 47-year-old Joseph Svenden lives on the family farm with his dying mother and teaches at a two room schoolhouse with Rosealee, his lover and his best friend's widow. Joseph, who lacks a college degree, learns that he will lose his teaching job at the end of the year when the school district expands into his town. Meanwhile, he is seduced by 17-year-old Catherine, a new student in his class. His affair with Catherine and losing his teaching job forces Joseph to take a look at his previously dull life and to decide how he wants to live the rest of it.

5.2

The Mad Doctor of Market Street

Feb 27, 1942

A fugitive doctor tries to raise the dead for South Sea Islanders.

7.1

Ruggles of Red Gap

Mar 8, 1935

In this comedy of an Englishman stranded in a sea of barbaric Americans, Marmaduke Ruggles, a gentleman's gentleman and butler to an Earl is lost in a poker game to an uncouth American cattle baron. Ruggles' life is turned upside down as he's taken to the USA, is gradually assimilated into American life, accidentally becomes a local celebrity, and falls in love along the way.

6.5

Stanley & Iris

Feb 9, 1990

An illiterate cook at a company cafeteria tries for the attention of a newly widowed woman. As they get to know one another, she discovers his inability to read. When he is fired, she takes on trying to teach him to read in her kitchen each night.

6.3

Luna

Aug 29, 1979

While touring in Italy, a recently-widowed American opera singer has an incestuous relationship with her 15-year-old son to help him overcome his heroin addiction.

6.0

The Last Survivors

Mar 4, 1975

When a passenger ship sinks, a ship's officer must decide which passengers in an overcrowded lifeboat must be sacrificed so the rest can survive an approaching typhoon.

6.6

Ghosts of Mississippi

Dec 20, 1996

A Mississippi district attorney and the widow of Medgar Evers struggle to bring a white supremacist to justice for the 1963 murder of the civil rights leader.

5.4

Together Again

Dec 23, 1944

Anne Crandall is the mayor of a small town in Vermont. Her deceased husband had been the mayor for years and when he died, she was left to carry on and to raise his daughter from his first marriage. She lives with the daughter, her father-in-law and a housekeeper. In the town square, there was a statue of her late husband and every year since his death, they have an anniversary celebration there. This year during a thunderstorm, the statue is hit by lightning and the head falls off. The daughter insists that a new statue be erected instead of patching the old one. Mayor Crandall is sent to New York to interview the prospective sculptor, George Corday.

2.0

Casa de remolienda

Aug 30, 2007

Concerned about the future of her three children, a widow takes them to the city with the purpose of getting them married.

6.6

We're Not Dressing

Apr 27, 1934

Beautiful high society type Doris Worthington is entertaining guests on her yacht in the Pacific when it hits a reef and sinks. She makes her way to an island with the help of singing sailor Stephen Jones. Her friend Edith, Uncle Hubert, and Princes Michael and Alexander make it to the same island but all prove to be useless in the art of survival. The sailor is the only one with the practical knowhow to survive but Doris and the others snub his leadership offer. That is until he starts a clam bake and wafts the fumes in their starving faces. The group gradually gives into his leadership, the only question now is if Doris will give into his charms.

7.0

In Name Only

Aug 18, 1939

A wealthy man falls for a widow but is locked into a loveless marriage with a woman who has contrived to convince his parents she is the ideal wife.

6.6

Keeper of the Flame

Apr 1, 1943

Famed reporter Stephen O'Malley travels to a small town to investigate the death of a national hero.

6.8

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone

Dec 28, 1961

Critics and the public say Karen Stone is too old -- as she approaches 50 -- for her role in a play she is about to take to Broadway. Her businessman husband, 20 years her senior, has been the angel for the play and gives her a way out: They are off to a holiday in Rome for his health. He suffers a fatal heart attack on the plane. Mrs. Stone stays in Rome. She leases a magnificent apartment with a view of the seven hills from the terrace. Then the contessa comes calling to introduce a young man named Paolo to her. The contessa knows many presentable young men and lonely American widows.

5.5

The Week Of

Apr 27, 2018

The parents of a soon-to-be married couple make the final preparations for the wedding ceremony.

5.7

The Deal

Jun 29, 2015

One year after Stine's husband died, she reclusive lives with her daughter Stephanie in a suburban villa which falls into disrepair. She encounters the charming craftsman Roger, who makes her an offer right on cue: He consents to carry out repairs as much as necessary, which have to be paid back, only when Stine has the ability to. Instead, he just wants to get a warm meal and an shower at times. Eventually one night. Stine accepts that deal despite she risks her daughter's relationship. Written by Anonymous

7.3

Late Chrysanthemums

Jun 15, 1954

With delicate, unobtrusive strokes, Naruse evokes both the humor and bitterness of his characters’ dilemmas, in this bleak, compelling poignant portrait of a quartet of aging geishas contemplating their troubles with men and money.

8.0

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs

Jan 15, 1960

Keiko, whom everyone calls Mama, narrates her story: she's a hostess on the Ginza, 30, a widow. She describes life's vicious cycle: acting cheerful around drunks, dressing and living well to convey confidence, needing money for these expenses and for her demanding mother and brother, and knowing she's growing older.

6.3

In the Navy

May 30, 1941

Popular crooner Russ Raymond abandons his career at its peak and joins the Navy using an alias, Tommy Halstead. However, Dorothy Roberts, a reporter, discovers his identity and follows him in the hopes of photographing him and revealing his identity to the world. Aboard the Alabama, Tommy meets up with Smoky and Pomeroy, who help hide him from Dorothy, who hatches numerous schemes in an attempt to photograph Tommy/Russ being a sailor.

5.8

White Night Wedding

Jan 18, 2008

Jon, a middle-aged professor is going to get married tomorrow, for the second time, to one of his ex-students half his age. But it's not all roses. First, there's his cranky mother-in-law-to-be who violently opposes the marriage and who demands repayment of Jon's loan before the wedding night. Second, his plans to build a golf course on the little island of Flatey where they live aren't going at all to plan. Third, his extremely drunk best man is on the loose without any shoes and lastly, the continual presence of his emotional first wife is haunting his every move. When the guests start flocking to the island, Jon starts getting cold feet. After a very long night of drinking and thinking, will Jon be able to make it to the church on time?