10 Best Acting Performances By Musicians

Miserabalist and provocateur Lars Von Trier is a director who knows how to push buttons. Over the course of his celebrated career he has butted heads with many high profile names, perhaps never more so than with Icelandic critical darling Bjork. Like any good renegade cop, though, his methods may be unorthodox – but damn, do they get results!

A celebrated singer songwriter, Bjork had barely acted a lick before appearing in Von Trier’s tragedy. But rather than this making her a liability, her rawness and total lack of Hollywood sheen is a large part of what sells the film. Bjork’s presence is always somewhat otherworldly, and her ethereal quality is utilised magnificently in this tale of misplaced trust and cruelty. Playing a near-blind factory worker, she exudes both naivety and a worldweary melancholy. You just want someone to swoop her up and take her away from this wretched town.

Only, this is a Von Trier film, and without giving the game away, that’s not how the Danish auteur’s films tend to end.Set to a magnificent soundtrack that veers from start to grandiose (performed by Bjork herself), Dancer In The Dark is certainly not a warm hearted tale for all the family to enjoy. It is, however, an experience, a unique one at that, with a truly extraordinary performance at its heart.