Ad Break- Dancing on the Moon

 

You’ll probably have seen this Chanel No.5 advert featuring a couple dancing interpretively across the vistas of a golden lunar surface recently as it seems to have been re – released. Originally launched in October 2020 its presumably been pressed into action again because the perfume is one hundred years old this year. Or perhaps because it is really good!

 

Ads for perfume are often the most inventive and imaginative because they are difficult things to sell. They have to somehow convey an aroma visually so they are frequently exotic or strange. This advert is sometimes called `Dancing on the Moon` though the campaign’s title seems to be `Ask for the Moon` at least on static displays. Pleasingly it is the full length version that is often being shown at the moment as the shortened one obviously cuts the song which does sound odd. 

We see a woman dressed for an event staring at the Moon and she's wearing a spectacular gold dress suggesting she goes to better parties than most of us and she's imagining her partner sharing a dance up there. This we see as a contemporary style movement across what seems to be the lunar surface albeit a gold coloured version.  It's basically a courtship dance with conversation replaced by movement across an impressive glittering set.  Marion Cotillard brings vivid character to the dance, her expressions showing the joy of what is happening.  Its a display that really does show the carefree wonder of a relationship in its early stages. They run into a crater and then up the other side culminating in them spiralling into the air together, the Earth in the background. At the end of her vision the same man turns up to stand next to her. It is as captivating an advert sequence as any.

The advert is directed by Johan Renck who directed award winning series Chernobyl and the stunning ten- minute video for David Bowie’s song Blackstar. The woman is played by French actress Marion Cotillard and is first seen on a snow covered Parisian bridge.  Then she is there engaged in a playful and seductive dance with the man  Marion Cotillard and her co-dancer Jeremie Belingard are choreographed by Ryan Heffington (amongst his work was Sia’s memorable video for `Chandelier`) who says he wanted the dance to reflect “a true relationship”, communicating through their movement

The music is Lorde’s 2013 song `Team` though it’s a version recorded by Flavien Berget and sung by the multi -talented Marion Cotillard herself. The central lyric “we’re on each other’s team” certainly suggests a close relationship yet the other words seem to be addressing broader issues. “We live in cities you never see on screen, not very pretty but we sure know how to run them. Living in ruins of a palace within my dreams.” This seems worlds away from the pictures we’re seeing. Lorde has said the song was inspired by the people and places of her home country New Zealand.

Last year talking about the ad, Marion Cotillard told MarieClare: “It was interesting to create her with ingredients that are part of me and also universal ingredients, like the emotion you go through when you’re in love. Ryan Heffington, who’s just a maestro of acting with dance, put in this choreography the joyfulness, the playfulness, the sensuality, the energy that I thought was really amazing to embody.”

This is surely an ad that can be considered as art...