Selmasongs

Björk promoting the film at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.

Björk was offered only to write and produce the score for the film Dancer in the Dark. But when she read the script, "the idea of putting all of me into this other person and trying to imagine what her interior would sound like was really exciting and quite liberating". Eventually, director Lars von Trier persuaded her to play the starring role. "The angle I took on it was that it wasn’t really acting", said Björk. "Then when we started preparing for the acting I told [von Trier] from the top that I would have to feel it from instinct. And he said 'That suits me fine because I can't stand actresses and acting'".[2] Filming of Dancer in the Dark began in early 1999.[3] She played Selma, a Czech immigrant and single mother working in a factory in rural America who was going blind.[4] Björk, who was known primarily as a musician, had rarely acted before, and has described the process of making the film as so emotionally taxing that she would not appear in any film ever again.[5][6] She had several disagreements with von Trier over the content of the film, and later called him sexist,[7] accusing him of sexual harassment.[8] Co-star Catherine Deneuve and others have described her performance as feeling rather than acting.[9] Björk has said that it is a misunderstanding that she was put off acting by this film; rather, she never wanted to act but made an exception for von Trier.[10]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	76/100[11]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[12]
Entertainment Weekly	C−[13]
Los Angeles Times	[14]
Melody Maker	[15]
NME	8/10[16]
Pitchfork	7.4/10[17]
Q	[18]
Rolling Stone	[19]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[20]
Spin	8/10[21]

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 76, based on 20 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[11] Heather Phares from AllMusic gave a positive review, commenting, "Selmasongs' best tracks are poignant, inventive expressions of Björk's talent and Selma's daydreams and suffering. [...] Selmasongs paints a portrait of a woman losing her sight, but it maintains Björk's unique vision".[12] While giving a "C–" grade, David Browne from Entertainment Weekly noted that "the melding of drum and bass rhythms and panoramic classical orchestrations is as sonically impressive as it was on 1997's Homogenic. But something here brings out the most precious and irritating aspects of Björk's elfin voice", but "yet Selmasongs is mostly show tunes on Ecstasy, and you keep praying for a police raid".[13]

Selmasongs sold more than 48,000 copies in the United States in less than two weeks.[25]