You only have to look at some of the films starring the likes of Madonna, Jennifer Lopez and - heaven forbid - Beyonce to realise that pop stars do not always make for good actors. They might be great at performing on stage, but strip away the glamour and there's little beneath the surface to write home about. Bjork has never been categorised as a typical pop star and it's her inherent eccentricities which made her a perfect choice to play the lead in Dancer In The Dark. She plays Selma Ježková, an impoverished immigrant in 1960s America who discovers she's going blind and resorts to increasingly desperate measures to raise the money for an operation for her son in order to spare him the same fate. Interspersed with musical numbers this is brave cinematic work from Lars von Trier, perhaps one of the few contemporary directors as eccentric as Bjork. Typically for a von Trier movie, Dancer In The Dark polarised critics and audiences alike, but few can argue that Bjork's first - and only - feature film starring role is powerful and innovative, even if it does frequently slide into moments of pretentiousness.
