TEMPTATION

February 2005. Finally, the DVD compilation of New Order videos is really in the works. Rather than considering a commentary track, I proposed to make a new video for an old song. This would bring my history with the band full circle. I would keep the budget low, not involve the band, and I would do as I pleased without their approval. If in the end they didn't like it, they would not include it on the DVD.

I was in Paris working on another project, a personal film. One night a friend invited me to see the Swedish band The Concretes. They were wonderful. I met them afterwards and we went nearby for a drink. I told the singer, Victoria Bergsman, what I was up to in terms of developing a video for New Order. She told me of an idea she had for a video of a woman who goes shopping for a record (vinyl), takes it home, and dances to it.

Later I thought of that idea in terms of the song “Temptation”. Because it was a long song it would be a challenge. I thought it thereby needed something special, simple. And Victoria 's idea was simple, even banal. It could work,

If the girl could carry the story

Victoria listened to the song and came up with a breakdown of the story.

She had someone there in Stockholm she thought would be good. So I encouraged her to do an informal test shoot with her.

Victoria shot some video and for me it showed that the idea could work. But I already knew that the girl had to be Victoria . Especially after she sent me some videos that she made in art school. As we discussed the project further, Victoria came to accept to play the role. But then she wanted to do it in Paris . That was fine by me. I knew the city well and shot my film “Souvenir” there.

Now I needed to find a cameraperson. We had so little money there could be no crew and we would shoot on video with available light. I had become friendly with the wonderful cameraman Darius Khondji, and he wanted to shoot with me. But when we set up a date, he had a conflict.

One day I was outside in a café when filmmaker Phillipe Garrel walked past. I stopped him to ask about the film I knew he was working on about May 1968. He invited me to a screening the next day at his lab. There is nothing better than a morning screening, especially of such a good film. Over 3 hours in black and white in the old, almost square, academy frame. The film went on to win the Silver Lion at the Venice film festival this summer.

I learned that the cameraperson was William Lubtchansky, whose work for Godard and Iossielloni, among others, I have long admired. I obtained his phone number, called him, and within an hour I was at his home. That is unheard of in France , where you usually have to make an appointment to make an appointment…

Before meeting him, I had learned that his daughter, Irena, was a cameraperson and had been assisting William for several years. He invited her over and I explained what we were thinking for the video. Irena knew of the band and I gave her the cd of the music to listen to. And she gave me a reel of her work as a Director of Photography.

Irena was really up for the shoot and was interested in learning to use the new HD camera. Guillame Diamant-Berger was loaning us the camera for the shoot, and he was a big fan of William Lubtchansky as well.

Victoria came to Paris and we met with Irena and planned to do tests on Friday, shooting on Saturday and Sunday. I took Victoria to a friend, Gerlinde Hobel, at the clothing designer Missoni's offices and she found an unusual belt with voodoo dolls on it. We borrowed it for the shoot.

Then we looked at records stores and a friend's apartment. The apartment seemed perfect for the space and light, and a good floor to dance on. It also overlooked a special garden I thought we could use.

The record store was more difficult. So on Friday that was our focus. We shot in two very different stores. Finally we went to Bimbo Towers, a place Victoria had introduced me to. It is small, eclectic shop with cd's and vinyl and books and other paraphernalia, much of which is from Japan. We had originally thought it would be too small. It worked. We got what we needed. The store was so gracious and the people in there worked with us. It so happened that the boy next to Victoria is from Los Angeles and works in a record store there. And you will notice a voodoo doll behind Victoria – a nice coincidence.

We also made some pick up shots in the streets. We were ahead of the game.

Saturday we focused on the dance, and did many of the remaining exterior running shots before. After setting things up, Victoria worked with Irena alone. I went out with Sylvain Homo to find the shot from a window and the opening shot. Just near was a great shot from above for when Victoria exits the record shop. And not far away was our opening. We also did many of the running shots and florist all in the same area so we would not lose time traveling. It was an area I knew well and there were already some locations I had in mind.

We finished on Saturday and had a wonderful meal to celebrate. The next day Victoria and I went through the footage and made notes. She had to return to Stockholm on Monday and I would begin the edit.

Catherine Quesemond was the editor. I met her at a dinner party given by Jeszebel and Nicholas Traube. I must say Jezabel gives many dinners and I have met so many friends in her home, including Guillaume who supplied the camera. Catherine had just completed a feature by Michel Piccoli which played in Cannes. She had never done a music video, and for me that was good. I liked her and the filmmakers she had worked with. And as you can see, I work a lot on instinct.

Amanda Stubbs is a producer at Partizan, a commercials company that represents Michel Gondry. She is also a dear friend and introduced me to Mathieu Hue and Julien Desplanguees of Nightshift. They do a lot of 3D post for commercial clients of Partizan and they agreed to work with us on the edit. Our budget was limited but they liked the project. They had their own facility where we could edit.

Catherine came in and in two days we had pretty much the final edit.

Each day Nightshift would put the edit on the internet so that Victoria could see and we could discuss it. It all went well and smoothly.

Nightshift was ready to do extensive graphics at the end that Victoria and I were discussing, but the edit seemed to hold its own. I was so happy that it turned out how it did, not using any tricks. When Victoria is dancing it goes dark – that was the real weather! We were so lucky.

The final touch was the titles and credits. I felt that it should be handwritten, like a diary. Victoria agreed and suggested Lisa Milberg from The Concretes. Lisa does all of her band's layout and graphics.

The video was re-titled “The Temptation of Victoria” and is dedicated to Michael Powell. If you have ever seen Michael's “A Matter of Life and Death” (in the U.S. it was released under the title “A Stairway to Heaven”), you will see the reference has to do with the move from black and white to color. And before Michael died, we were developing a short music film with him (see “The Sands of Dee”).