Spike Jonze May Have Made the Weirdest Perfume Ad Ever

Margaret Qualley stars in 'My Mutant Brain'
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 30, 2016 1:40 PM CDT

In what might possibly be the strangest perfume ad of all time, actress Margaret Qualley spends nearly four minutes spastically dancing around and shooting lasers out of her fingertips while absolutely no mention is made of the perfume being sold until the very end of the ad. The ad for France's Kenzo World perfume (which was filmed in LA's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, per the Hollywood Reporter) comes from director Spike Jonze, the AP reports. Reactions:

  • Vulture, which calls the ad "totally bonkers," notes that Qualley is a classically trained dancer and that the spot is total "glory."
  • You may know Qualley from her roles in The Leftovers or The Nice Guys. She's also Andie Macdowell's daughter, Fashionista notes. The site calls the ad, whose title is "My Mutant Brain," "basically the fashion version of Fatboy Slim's 'Weapon of Choice' music video with Christopher Walken—also directed by Jonze."
  • ScreenCrush, which calls the ad "wildly entertaining," notes that Jonze was known for directing music videos before feature films.

  • Paper calls the ad "insane" and notes that it was choreographed by Ryan Heffington of Sia's "Chandelier" video fame.
  • "This will go down as perhaps the most unexpectedly off-the-rails" of all the ads Jonze has ever directed, declares Collider.
  • AdWeek's take: "If you find most ads for pricey perfume to be pretentious and ridiculous, because they are, this one's for you. But it's so over the top, it can't help but leave you entertained."
  • Qualley's take: "When we think about perfume campaigns, we think about a pretty girl with a bottle. This clip is exactly the opposite," she says, per IndieWire. "It’s very multi-faceted and different; it takes the spectator by surprise."
(More Spike Jonze stories.)

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