This 3-minute video is a musical tribute to the unfinished film “L’enfer” by Henri-Georges Clouzot, originally starring Romy Schneider and Serge Reggiani. The film tackled the troubled love story between a hotel manager and his attractive new wife. The plot centered on the man’s obsession as he becomes obsessed with her possible infidelity and he starts to perceive her as a hypnotic and maleficent beauty.

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The music video is dedicated to the eccentric portrait of the feminine character Odette. In order to show the emerging madness of the male character, Clouzot tried an innovative style: he used point of view shots, mixed black and white and color images and established a color-coded system to indicate mood swings. That is why the femme fatale was portrayed in all kinds of dreamlike shots, with an emphasis on her Vixen traits.

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With an actress that resembles the much talented Romy Schneider, the music video recreates  Clouzot’s most representative depictions of Odette. The portraits in the dark of the mysterious lady, the neon discotheque-inspired colors surrounding her, the lingering camera movements are all elements that fit perfectly the Soniamiki’s electronic pop song.

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The music video doesn’t really have a story but is more of a mood film centered on the enigmatic persona of Odette. The director gave a great importance to detail and technique. A scene that stands out is the one where the actress smokes a cigarette and looks directly to the camera, having a rotating light moving around her face, while the camera zooms in and out. This seems like a metaphor for the passing phases of life, but it also gives an impressive visual effect for the audience to remember. The lights moving in the eyes of the girl give further mystery to her character.

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We admire the director’s interest in representative pieces of work of cinema and making a tribute for a fascinating character that didn’t make it to the screen is admirable. Even if the neon retro portrait shows the creative team’s skills in using cinematic techniques to manipulate the perception of the viewer, the final product lacks a personal style. While other music videos were made with footage from camera tests made by Clouzot, this music video simply tries to recreate some of the representative shots and we felt the need of more structure.

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Nevertheless, it is a good conceptual video that viewers will remember.