BJÖRK is being tipped for possible Oscar glory in her debut movie. The diminutive singer has been praised for her starring role in Dancer In The Dark, the latest film from Danish director Lars von Trier, best known for the critically-acclaimed Breaking The Waves.

Co-starring alongside Catherine Deneuve and Peter Stormare (Fargo, The Big Lebowski), Bjork's performance has been compared to that of Emily Watson in Breaking The Waves, a role which catapulted the then little-known British actress to the Hollywood A-list and earned her an Academy Award nomination.

Sight & Sound, the official magazine of the British Film Institute, described Bjork's acting as "intense" and "sensational".

The singer plays a 30-year-old Czech immigrant in the US in the mid-'60s, struggling to bring up a child on her own. When she is robbed of her life savings she plots murderous revenge on the thieves. The film has a handful of fantasy musical sequences, mostly written by Bjork, although von Trier contributed some himself.

"I suppose she wasn't especially enamoured of my attempts to be a lyricist," said the director, "but she's been loyal enough to perform them."

With a budget of £14 million, the film is the most expensive ever produced in Scandinavia, and is likely to be given a UK release early next year.

Bjork has also contributed a new song, 'Amphipian', to the soundtrack of the movie Being John Malkovich, the feature debut of respected video director Spike Jonze, and starring John Cusack. The singer will be playing two special shows with The Brodsky Quartet at the Union Chapel in Islington on December 9 and 11.