Duran Duran – The Chauffeur

“The Chauffeur” (Ian Emes)

This video is the only one on the album in which the band do not appear at all. It was filmed around Notting Hill during the autumn of 1982, while the band was away on tour. A moody, elegant black-and-white piece inspired by the fetishistic imagery of Helmut Newton, the production was entirely conceived, designed, photographed and edited by renowned British animation director Ian Emes. The video is a fantasy of two mysterious, hauntingly beautiful women who are seen ritualistically dressing themselves in elaborate lingerie before traveling separately through the dark streets and tunnels of London to meet in a vacant underground car park for an exotic lesbian encounter. The song’s dramatic instrumental finale was accompanied by a topless Perri Lister as the female chauffeur performing a sensuous dance — clearly an homage to Charlotte Rampling’s topless, fetishistic “Dance of the Seven Veils” in Liliana Cavani’s famous 1974 film The Night Porter.