Chris DeLine

By merit of his weathered appearance — let alone his remarkable presence — Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård has made a (rather lengthy) career out of playing the role of hardened characters. In this new Tarik Saleh-directed music video for “Sadness is a Blessing,” the actor once again assumes a difficult position, this time opposite a defiant drinker played by Lykke Li. While his look of lost and betrayal which appears on the screen later in the video is not to be overlooked, it’s Li’s ability to offer such a theatrical shift in her demeanor that stands out as the visible highlight of the emotional clip. Now that we know she’s got chops: what’s the over under on the amount of time it takes before she’s cast in a film? I give it a year, tops.

[This post was first published by Culture Bully.]