these are the words of one of our soulmates from Australia and I would add - "...and playing the harmonica"
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| Photo credits at the end of the text |
I started with a provocative quote, but it fits very well with my post today.
On this beautiful autumn day, as we eagerly await 𝙀𝙥𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙙𝙚 𝙄 𝙤𝙛 "𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙩 𝙈𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙘 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨" from our favorite band, we meet again at the continuation of last week's post.
If you have not read the last article about 𝗩𝗶𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘀 translating a song "𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕" into French, you can read it here:
https://bit.ly/3d2KX3K
So let's talk about why the band Placebo approached director 𝗚𝗮𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗿 𝗡𝗼𝗲́ and why the forbidden erotic gem was actually filmed.
Let me first say a few words about the director himself.
𝗚𝗮𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗿 𝗡𝗼𝗲́, director, actor, cinematographer in one person. According to critics, he makes cruel, bizarre and openly sexual films. The world of cinema is divided into those who curse him and those who love and highlight his work.
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| Photo credit: Frederik Stucin |
Placebo was not the only one with his video for the song, he made a total of 9 video clips, including for Nick Cave and his band The Bad Seeds. 𝗚𝗮𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗿 𝗡𝗼𝗲́ admits that he is fascinated by the work of the late director Stanley Kubrick. Noé specialty is the long shots of a camera that carefully follows the story and draws you directly into the film so that you feel as if you were a part of it. Noé is often behind the handheld camera.
Among his most famous and interesting films is undoubtedly the film 𝑰𝒓𝒓𝒆́𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 from 2002, starring Vincent Cassel and Monica Bellucci.
A film that caused a huge stir during its screening at the Cannes Film Festival, as watching it drove part of the audience out of the hall. The reason is said to be not directly drastic shots from a 9-minute rape shot without a cut, but rather a low sound frequency, which causes nausea in more sensitive individuals. I have to confirm for myself that this sound was really mentally disturbing.
You may already understand why three such provocative artists as our beloved and always surprising Placebo, Gaspar Noé and Virginie Despentes have joined forces…
Brian Molko was so impressed with the film 𝑰𝒓𝒓𝒆́𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 that he very much welcomed the acquaintance with director Noé.
🔹𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝑮𝒂𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒓 𝑵𝒐𝒆́?
BM: I met Gaspar via Agnès B at a party in Paris. I really liked Irréversible. It's a movie that has polarized people's attention, I know.
In the media and the public too. I found the film to be really, really strong, it's a very moral and very important film, I became a big fan of Gaspar and I was therefore very happy to meet him.
And since we had worked with Virginie Despentes - someone very controversial too - for the translation of 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚̀𝙜𝙚-𝙢𝙤𝙞, we said to ourselves: why not work with someone who visually also pushes the envelope of his art?
I knew full well that this wouldn't be the kind of music video where the band would play instruments or play back, things like that, it would be something completely different. We started talking on the phone with Gaspar and he told me straight away:
"I don't want to put the band in the clip".
This is the first time that we would not find ourselves in one of our clips and we said to ourselves:
"Ok, that will do less work for us, go ahead Gaspar, go for it".
He wanted to do something a little porn, and There you go!
We weren't going to take someone with a talent and put him in a cage. He had to be able to do exactly what he wanted within the constraints of the budget we had. That's what he did!
🔹𝑩𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒖𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒍𝒊𝒑 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒅?
BM: Yeah, we knew that, we knew very well that it would not be played on TV, that it would not be played on MTV...
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| Protège-moi video clip |
🔹𝑰𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒄𝒍𝒊𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒅𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒅𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒕?
BM: No, because that's what also makes the idea of the music video more valuable. It depends on your point of view. And then, we knew very well that it was going to be released in one format or another - which happened with the special issue of 𝗟𝗲𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗸𝘂𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀, that it was going to end up on the Internet, that people could find it.
And it was interesting for us to work in a context which was not constrained by this "commercialism" of the clip where it is necessary that the group looks good, that all the plans are flattering ...
In this case, it was such a mini-movie 4 minutes long.
𝑅𝑜𝑐𝑘 𝑀𝑎𝑔 "𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜, 𝑃𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑒 𝑇𝑟𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑓", 𝐴𝑢𝑔'04
And now we come to the very controversial video, which is banned in all public media.
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑖𝑝 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚̀𝙜𝙚-𝙢𝙤𝙞 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐ℎ 𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝗟𝗲𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗸𝘂𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀, 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑛 2004 𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑎 48-𝑝𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜. 𝐼𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝐷𝑉𝐷 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑏𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑛 𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑜, 𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑠 𝐵𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑢𝑝𝑖𝑑 (𝐿𝑖𝑣𝑒) 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒̀𝑔𝑒-𝑀𝑜𝑖 (𝑀83 𝑅𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑥). 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟'𝑠 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒.
Honestly, I can't imagine a fan for whom Placebo is part of his life and who loves their openness and provocation would condemn the creation of this - I'm not afraid to say - gem.
Gaspar Noé's artistic expression fits me perfectly with the song.
Two topless girls meet inside the house in front of the mantelpiece and their gaze stops for a moment at the beautiful pic of Placebo. Then they continue on to a room full of people having sex, the camera creeps in with them, all shot in one single slow motion. The image is covered by a merciful dark filter, so the intimacy shots are not sharp.
Thanks to this filter, flashing lights, slow tempo and graduating song 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚̀𝙜𝙚-𝙢𝙤𝙞, you feel like you are hypnotically drawn into the action.
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| Placebo at Gurten festival 2004 |
My post ends today. I've always wanted to explore the nooks and crannies of this clip because it fascinated me.
I insert two links where you can watch it, if eroticism does not offend you.
𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚̀𝙜𝙚-𝙢𝙤𝙞 by Gaspar Noé
https://vimeo.com/197542987
https://bit.ly/2GM5BZJ - on YouTube
🔹A few words from the director himself in conclusion:🔹
„𝐼𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑚𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑚𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒."
"𝐼 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑚𝑠. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝐼'𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡.***
𝐽𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠, 𝐼 𝑏𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑓𝑖𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐹𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒-𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑑, 𝑠𝑜 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑚𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑖𝑥𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑛. 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑚 "𝐼𝑟𝑟𝑒́𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒" 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠."
"𝐼'𝑑 𝑟𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑡 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑒𝑥 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔."
According to critics, Noé, along with Bruno Dumont, Francois Ozon and Catherine Breillat, is included in the current of new French extreme cinema.
I hope that by reading this article and watching the video, you will shorten the wait to today's much-anticipated event - the release of other previously unpublished footage from Placebo's past on YouTube.
Have a wonderful evening tonight, dear friends.
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| Placebo at Gurten festival 2004 |
Photo credits pic 1:
Virginie Despentes - Jean-François Paga
Gaspar Noé - Julien Warnand
Protege-moi single cover: Helena Berg
Brian Molko - screenshots by me
Photo edit: Marti
Post by Marti
