Music

7 Best Michel Gondry-Directed Music Videos

Michel Gondry has directed videos for Chemical Brothers, Bjork and White Stripes.
By Richard S. Chang
3 min readPublished on
White Stripes LEGO video

White Stripes

© [unknown]

Prior to Metronomy's video for 'Love Letters,' released today, Michel Gondry had gone three years since directing the video for Bjork's 'Crystalline.' That's his longest stretch of not directing a video. While known for his inventive and heartwarming films ('Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind' and 'The Science of Sleep') Gondry has directed more than 50 videos, including some classics. He has made cinematic videos (like those for Bjork) and simple ones and complex videos that appear simple. But no matter the complexity, each Gondry video comes with a childlike fascination with the medium that's he become such an expert in. Here are seven of Gondry's best.

7. Kylie Minogue - 'Come Into My World' (2002)

Why: It's a classic and wonderfully effective Gondry video structure. At first, the video plays out like a long and complex (but straightforward) tracking shot. But then halfway through, Gonry adds a twist. Then another twist. And another.

6. White Stripes - 'Fell In Love With A Girl' (2002)

Why: Because Legos.

5. Bjork - 'Crystalline' (2011)

Why: Gondry videos for Bjork call under the cinematic category more than clever. But they're still great.

4. Bjork - 'Army Of Me' (1995)

Why: Bjork steering a massive urban assault truck is just the beginning of surreal adventure that involves a gorilla dentist, a giant diamond and a mission to blow up a museum to save a life. Classic Bjork. Classic Gondry.

3. Chemical Brothers - 'Star Guitar' (2001)

Why: A simple idea executed to perfection, the 'Star Guitar' video is sort of a predecessor to Kylie's 'Come Into My World.' Instead of following Kylie on her daily errands, we're looking out a train window as a country landscape passes by. Everything seems normal, until you realize that nothing is normal. By then you can't look away.

2. Lucas - 'Lucas With The Lid Off' (1994)

Why: The 'Lucas With The Lid Off' video was an MC Escher painting come to life. If it were made today's technology, we might not bat an eyelid, but this was 1994. Intel Pentium chips had just been invented. Jurassic Park was still in some theaters.

1. Daft Punk - 'Around The World' (1997)

Why: The video probably best captures every characteristic of a classic Gondry video: Lot of humans, a low-budget set design, and a clever visual twist that's not too far out of reach: the video is a choreographic visualization of the instruments used in the song.
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