Modjo’s "Lady" : memories of the video | François Nemeta
May 2000. One day, my producer Anath sends me this tune "Lady (Hear me tonight)" and asks me to think about a music video. I listen a lot to the song, I find it absolutely melancholic and very romantic. Sadness mixed with joy.
So I come up with this bitter teenager love story :
Three teenagers, two boys and one girl, decide to run away together, and they want to have pleasure, fun and escape reality.
I write it quite fast, with "Virgin Suicides" and "Boys Don’t Cry" in mind.
Modjo, the band is french, but they made the choice to sing to everyone in the world : in english.
I am french too and I thought the video had to look the same, to be able to talk to everyone in the world, to be the most universal possible.
I wanted it to look like a mix of the USA and my french suburban hometown.
This is how, in June 2000, we take a plane and end up in Montreal, Quebec.
In Montreal we organize a casting session to find our three young heroes.
I was looking for three teenagers with a real relationship between them, no matter if it was friendship or love.
That’s how we found our beautiful teenager trio, three real friends in life : Sarah-Jane, Patrice and Gilles.
In June 2000, we went on a road trip on the roads of Quebec.
Locations are listed on this page :
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1g9wR_Zo2l7lf6GkVEG8IxDYeKeg
Yann and Romain (from Modjo) appear in the video : they sell the car to the three teenagers.
This version is of course the Official version of the video. But MTV edited one shot out of the video… Do you know which one ? 😉
These are Polaroids from "Lady" Casting session
1. Sarah-Jane. 2. Patrice.
3. Gilles. 4. Patrice, Sarah-Jane, Gilles.
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109 thoughts on “Modjo’s "Lady" : memories of the video”
This has been one of my favorite videos for a long time that I keep rewatching. Beautiful story, amazing visuals. I’m curious by any chance do you remember what lens you used or what your favorites are for a look like this? Super 16 has to be one of the most intimate dreamlike formats
Merci!
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Thanks ! 16mm here , not super 16. I think the lenses used are mostly 10, 16, 25.
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I was listening to some of my favourite songs today – it’s my birthday – and Lady is one of these. I’m a photographer and I enjoyed so much reading about the direction of this music video! Great work, I love those vibes!
Jessica
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That was amazing
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Whoa! memories!
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Thanks for the behind the scenes, it’s a fantastic video.
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I remembered seeing this video on a flight from Atlanta to Paris on Delta flight, and I loved it! The song stuck with me, and I started searching for it but I couldn’t remember the name of the song or the band. I thought maybe it was a Daft Punk song, but of course, it wasn’t. Fast forward to 2019 and my 17 year old son says, “Mom, I heard this song and I thought you would love it!” Then, he played it for me: Lady by Modjo. He knows me well. I love the video and think it captures the feeling of the song completely.
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Amazing, memorable video, captured the freedom of youth…
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I remember being in love with the close friendship between the three protagonists.
The music video has such a feel good vibe to it, and watching it was also an escape from my own life.
I thought “how cool are these three teens? Buying a car, and randomly driving everywhere.”
I think I’ve seen Sarah Jane’s grown up photo somewhere on Twitter.
But does anyone know how the two male protagonists of the music video, Patrice and Gilles, currently are?
I hope that all three are still friends till this day ✨
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Pingback: 100 Greatest Songs of the 00’s #83 Modjo Lady – Hear Me Tonight – The Voice Of Unreason
This song brings back a lot of memories from the 2000s; a mix between melancholy and joy as details in your text. I also always wanted to know more about the behind the scenes of this spectacular video clip, although every time I searched for information on the internet I didn’t get anything, so I find this article extremely refreshing. Thank you for this ephemeral video, Monsieur Nemeta. Without a doubt, it will always have a very special place in my heart and in all the teenagers who lived in the 2000s. Greetings from the Caribbean
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Quel clip, quelle chanson… Étrange feeling qui me traverse le corps à chaque fois que je regarde, que j’écoute. Merci François!
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If you think you’re lucky to win the lottery, you’re completely wrong. Here are three people who were incredibly lucky to be present (forever) in a music video for one of the most nostalgic songs ever made.
This song is a bit strange because it brings joy, but at the same time, a bit of sadness. It reminds us of good times in...