Written by Andreas Babiolakis

I could go on and on about Björk Guðmundsdóttir (known simply as Björk to most), as I consider her one of the greatest entertainment visionaries of our time, but I want to focus primarily on what she represents as a cinematic mogul (even with the majority of her achievements being off of the big screen). For those that don’t know, Björk’s music career started at a very young age: her self titled debut was released when she was only twelve years old, after she appeared on the radio with a popular-enough single (a cover of Tina Charles’ “I Love to Love”) and scored a record deal. She would lead bands like the abrasive punk outfit Tappi Tíkarrass (which is Icelandic for “Cork the Bitch’s Ass”, which is endearing, I suppose) and the reknown post-punk outfit The Sugarcubes, before going solo with the album Debut (fittingly titled) in 1993. This album blended 90s electronic club music with beautiful orchestrations: a refreshing take on pop that was ahead of its time (and only feels like it is being caught up to now). It’s worth bringing up her involvement in the album Gling-Gló (with the backing band tríó Guðmundar Ingólfssonar) which was a jazz album full of standards; this was in 1990.

Debut was when she officially took off (if we exclude the legitimate success she had with The Sugarcubes), but she’s been involved with music since she was a child. While not quite as young, Björk’s cinematic involvement was early in her career as well, as she starred in Nietzchka Keene’s indie film The Juniper Tree (it was shot years before in 1986). Based on a Grimms brothers fairy tale, this middle ages fantasy — shot entirely in black and white — is the kind of whimsical material that Björk would champion throughout most of her career (curiosity surrounding the ways of the world and its lightest and darkest elements). It was a hit at Sundance, but kind of disappeared for a number of years (it has experienced a resurrection within the last decade, luckily). Björk won’t be acting much from here on out, but each appearance — The Juniper Tree included — feels unique.

We would quickly learn that Björk’s albums would not only feel singular in sound, but they would be conceptually rich as well. I’ve brought up Debut already, but let’s continue in chronological order. Post is an enhancement of Debut, with deeper dives into the electronic scene. Homogenic finds synergy between abstract electronic beats and traditionally classical orchestral passages (this is my personal favourite album of hers). Vespertine is a softer album pieced together by random sounds and delicate, intricate sounds; this is when her albums start to occasionally take on a narrative concept, as this was conceived when she began dating experimental director Matthew Barney and is full of different depictions of love and desire. The following album, Medúlla, is almost entirely a cappella, and unites ancestral vocalizations and choirs with modern beatboxing and chants. Volta is a bombastic album with political and existential themes. Biophilia is a series of sounds created in tune with the ways of nature and the Earth (including pendulums that are pulled by the gravitational forces caused by the slow rotation of the planet, for example). Vulnicura is much darker: a detailing of Björk’s divorce from Barney — of whom she now has a family with — after he cheated on her; this album is her most narratively constructed, as it actually follows this entire moment of her life from start to finish. Utopia is a rare continuation, where she takes us through a free, joyful world (full of birds chirping and electrifying music) before it is destroyed by her past (the continuation of her divorce coming to haunt her, including legal debacles). Who knows what the upcoming Fossfora brings, outside of the fact that it is going to be gabber-based and her “mushroom” album.

Now that I’ve bulleted through her discography (it’s very easy to get sidetracked), it’s time to explore what is specifically cinematic about her music career: her influential music videos. Firstly, she has worked with Michel Gondry time and time again, which is always a guarantee if you are wanting to make memorable, inventive music videos. She always has a uniform approach to her various visions, and this couldn’t be more true than Gondry shooting what is known as the Isobel trilogy: three songs (“Human Behaviour” from Debut, “Isobel” from Post, and “Bachelorette” from Homogenic); while the videos are quite different from one another, they still make for a sound, cohesive story surrounding one girl full of aspirations and discovery. We could go through every single video, because every Björk release is intriguing for different reasons, but I want to pin point specific examples: the Jacques Demy tribute video for “It’s Oh So Quiet” (directed by Spike Jonze), the use of Björk’s face as a canvas to project images on in “Hyperballad” (another Gondry video), and her magnum opus: “All is Full of Love” by Chris Cunningham, where Björk appears as separate androids in romantic unison.

Again, I could keep going, but this could take tomes to cover. There’s always something interesting going on with Björk (the filming of the inside of her mouth to be seen via a virtual reality set with the “Mouth Mantra” video, and this is only one such case, but, again, let’s get back on track). Like I said earlier, The Juniper Tree wasn’t Björk’s only film. She would wind up starring in Lars von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark as Selma: a factory worker who loves movie musicals, is losing her vision, and slowly turns her life into her own musical using the sounds around her as she gets more and more blind. The film is much darker than this, but I will let you get around to this film if you are interested. Björk won Best Actress at Cannes, and the film also won the Palme d’Or. Björk is masterful as Selma, and she channels every emotion with the perfect notes. Unfortunately, this would be the only time she would star in a film like this. She has expressed that she doesn’t feel like an actress, and additionally has showcased how starring in Dancer in the Dark was a rough experience, particularly because of her friction with Von Trier (eventually, she would reveal that she was continuously harassed and abused by Von Trier without naming him specifically; an allegation that the director has denied). Her soundtrack to the film, Selmasongs, was also a huge success, earning her an Oscar nomination for her collaboration with Radiohead singer Thom Yorke (“I’ve Seen It All”).

While she was with Barney, she acted in his visual art project Drawing Restraint 9 (she developed a soundtrack for this film as well); Barney stars as well, and their storylines are parallel of one another. She would also appear via voice only in the short animated film Anna and the Moods (Blur frontman Damon Albarn stars as well); the film was made by Icelandic writer Sjón, whom collaborates with Björk’s lyricism often. Sjón also wrote the screenplay for last year’s Lamb, but he wouldn’t stop there with contemporary arthouse cinema, as he also helped co-write Robert Eggers’ sensational film The Northman. You can see where I’m going with this. Björk briefly appears in this film (for minutes, if anything) as a prophet. Even though she is barely in the film, her stint feels effective: as if her visit haunts you for the remainder of the picture, and her warning lingers in your mind. Yep. She’s still got it.

So, yes. Björk hasn’t done much within the film industry, but each appearance was either for a specific reason, or has left an impact on cinephiles for decades. However, Björk has implemented many tropes of cinema in her musical projects, including innovation, scope, singularity, narrative qualities, and sound as a transformative experience. She’s quite visual for an auditory artist as well, with each album cover being pieced together to tell a story (including work with the late Alexander McQueen to make statements, like the arresting Homogenic cover that fuses a geisha with a being from the future). Her music videos are unparalleled. Her performances are similarly sonic and euphoric experiences of their own. She believes in creating complete packages in the same way that films are a culmination of many separate elements. She remains a fascinating creator who keeps surprising me time and time again. She may not work within the film industry as much as many would like, given she is beyond capable and would always be a captivating star to watch, but she showcases her expertise in cinema in many other noteworthy ways.

Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Toronto Metropolitan University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.

Film is Full of Love: Björk and Cinema

Written by Andreas Babiolakis