All Is Full of Love

The version of the song used in the video is somewhat different than the minimalist track on Homogenic. There's a plodding beat, perfectly-fit accordion snippets, absolutely beautiful strings, and layers upon layers of Björk's gorgeous voice. The video itself can be best described as a concise robot love story. Björk is a robot, halfway between a Star Wars stormtrooper and the Kraftwerk robots which play "The Robots" at concerts - but with distinctly female curves. Still being assembled (or repaired), she's surrounded by wires, sparks, giant robot arms, and a cleansing white fluid. I'm not even going to get into the technology behind the video; suffice it to say, it's high-tech special effects. The futuristic curved surfaces, lighting and coloring (most everything is black and white) are similarly top-notch strokes of genius.

The motions of the machines match perfectly the beat of the track, as well as Björk-bot's bird-like sensual eye movements. Cunningham has already proven himself an expert on matching machines to music: watch his video for Autechre's alien "Second Bad Vilbel" and you'll understand why late film-god Stanley Kubrick worked with him on designing the look of what is now Spielberg's AI.

So, Björk sits on the assembly table, solemnly staring as machines screw and drill and wash. Suddenly another Björk-bot appears, reaching out to her with a rapturous look. "All is Full of Love!" this new robot proclaims with a wide smile of pure ecstacy. The original Björk-bot blushes and closes her eyes.

The next shot, which coincides beautifully with a epic blast of strings, shows the two robots framed between two gigantic mechanical arms, engaged in a sensual and passionate kiss. Lips plead and hands wander, as the lights blink on and off. One can't help but get a warm feeling watching this video; Cunningham has perfectly captured the emotions of true love, something which isn't always easy to believe in. The video ends with the love scene fading out and the camera panning over a bunch of cables that had also been shown at the beginning. It's a wonderfully tightly-wound story; not a second of film goes to waste, and the minimalist plot lets the viewer's mind read almost anything into it.

One thing I do know is that this work of art has made me smile and feel the love inside, even in my darkest of times.

I also recommend the Plaid and Funkstörung mixes of the tune.

The video mix of this song that Uberfetus mentions above is actually the original mix.. sort of. The exact mix used in the video was included, at the time with the name "all is real", on a four song promo tape sent out shortly before Homogenic was released.

But by the time the album was released, "all is real" had lost its beats and base, and become the vast formless album version of "all is full of love". Meanwhile "Joy" had become "Alarm Call" after some minor tweaking (originally the base/beat ran all the way through); and "Shapeshifter" had changed names to "Bachelorette"..