FROM Abba to The Killing, Scandinavia has not been shy in exporting its pop cultural treasures – and another is on the way.

Trine Dyrholm, Denmark's answer to Helen Mirren and one of the region's best kept acting secrets, is given her chance to shine in Love is All You Need.

Starring alongside Pierce Brosnan, Dyrholm plays Ida, a hairdresser recovering from breast cancer who travels to Italy for her daughter's wedding. There, she meets her daughter's new in-laws, including the groom's father, Philip (Brosnan).

"Such a gentleman, really, really nice" is Dyrholm's take on the former James Bond.

Friendly faces were welcomed by Dyrholm, 40, who is new to the romantic comedy beat having starred in the Oscar-winning drama In A Better World and the Oscar-nominated period piece A Royal Affair.

One face she did know already was the director Susanne Bier, helmer of In a Better World. It was just after Better World that Bier called Dyrholm and asked if she would be in her next film. At that point, says Dyrholm, Brosnan was yet to say yes. Dyrholm, though, was definitely in.

In playing Ida, Dyrholm had to find a way to portray a woman who has looked tragedy in the eye but who does not want to be viewed as a tragic figure. "When you meet her she has been through all this treatment and she has this loneliness inside her."

Bier has long been regarded by Hollywood as a European director to watch. Besides helming 2007's Things We Lost in the Fire, with Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro, her 2004 drama, Brothers, was given a US remake with Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire.

"She is the boss when you work with her, but at the same time you have a lot of freedom to suggest things," says Dyrholm. "It's inspiring."

Love is All You Need is set in Sorrento. Given the gorgeousness of the setting, I suggest to Dyrholm, it must have felt like being on holiday. A laugh comes down the line from Copenhagen.

"I had one weekend where I was on a motorboat with Pierce Brosnan slash James Bond and some of the crew, having a great time." Apart from that though, it was long days and a lot of work. "Susanne worked with hand-held cameras, very long shots. You have to be in character all the time because you never know where the camera is."

In Denmark, Dyrholm has been well known from an early age, not as an actress but as a singer. At 14 she entered the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, which selects the country's Eurovision Song Contest entry. Though she did not win, the song, Dancing in Moonlight, was a hit.

Acting, however, was what she wanted to do, and after training at the Danish National School of Theatre she starred in television and films, winning five Bodil awards, Denmark's equivalent to the Baftas or Oscars.

Though Better World won an Oscar, and Alec Baldwin came out as a Dyrholm fan, calling her "the best actress in the world", a major offer has yet to come in from outwith Danish and German cinema.

"I know I'm not very young, it's not that I'm going to be the new rising star or whatever. But there are a lot of people I would love to work with." On that list are Michael Haneke, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Ang Lee.

After opening in the UK next week, Love is All You Need makes its debut in the US next month. Dyrholm is ready, willing, and more than able for more.