In the article series Sound and Vision we take a look at music videos from notable directors. This week we look at Laufey's Goddess, directed by Celine Song.
Celine Song, in just two films and one music video, has carved out a singular oeuvre with some very clear narrative threads. Both Materialists and Past Lives deal with issues of romance, dating, trust and intimacy: the question if we know who is truly right for us, and if settling down isn't settling for less? There is a question of authenticity and connection, and the fear that the connection we feel might not necessarily be authentic. Past Lives tackles this theme through a triangular relationship where a woman is torn between two men who both are in some ways a great match for her, while Materialists looks at the idea of 'a match' itself: can our attraction and attractiveness to other people be quantified into numbers and statistics?
Goddess, the music video Celine Song made for Laufey, leaves out the idea of a triangular relationship, but still ultimately deals with this question of attraction. We see Laufey looking longingly out of the window, where a lover leaves her apartment. She reminisces on meeting him, while we look at details from the aftermath through a gauzy haze: a pair of slippers, a glittering dress, a hand bag and some glasses on the table.
The memories flooding back are about the limerence of the first meeting, the hazy mating dance of circling around each other. Again it is the details here that matter: the way that Laufey pushes her fingers through the chain link fence she is leaning against. If Celine Song's greatest strength can be quantified, Materialists-style, it is the focus on small, true-to-life details like this.
When Laufey eventually shows up as a Goddess-like fantasy figure it kinda feels like too literal and too much. It is reminiscent of the prehistoric flashbacks in Materialists that feel kind of out of place. Still, there is a glittering kitschy quality to the image of the saintly Laufey crying, especially as it is intercut with the most stunning image in the music video.
As Laufey gazes out the window, her lover leaving by car after an intimate tryst, she knows she will probably not see him again... And there is this shimmer. It is a soft shimmer in the lower-right corner, an ephemeral flittering trick of light that really shows how Laufey feels: her lover and love slipping away. The light has this quality of a hazy memory. A ghostly, romantic feel to it, already showing, rather than telling how Laufey might feel in the moment. When it turned out this glimmer is actually a reflection of the car in which he's leaving my jaw figuratively dropped. It is an amazingly strong shot that Wong Kar-wai, a big frame of reference for Song, would've been proud of, but that also stands strong on its own. I loved Past Lives and liked Materialists, but for my money that shot alone is a stand-out in an already strong oeuvre.