The subject of Let Forever Be is a young woman. The video itself subjects the woman to many twists and turns. It opens on a view of a New York City street, and pans to a drummer on the sidewalk who begins the song's beat on his kit. His beat sets the cadence to which seven dancers, all who look like the young woman, will control her life for the next 3.75 minutes.
As the woman wakes up in her real world (shot on DVCAM), the shot is morphed from her world to the dancers' soundstage (shot on 35mm film). They switch on their alarm clocks and shimmy back into their seven beds. The woman turns off her alarm clock, and stretches in front of the window. This shot is morphed to the dancers, who are all stretching in front of their seven respective windows. The seven dance as the camera tracks to the other side of the seven windows, which displays the background of a mall. The woman now finds herself running up the mall's escalator.
The video continues to mess with this woman's life in this way. There's a bug in the system, however, because soon the dancer world leaves effects in the real world. In one scene the woman, visibly distraught, finds the drummer in her bedroom. At the end of the video, her alarm clock is very large, and she hides under her covers for safety.
"I like the principle of fractals, the idea of finding geometry in nature or in stories. The effect [in the Chemical Brothers video] is a combination of morphing and CGI. The idea is to make the viewer believe it's just an old-fashioned kaleidoscope effect, then realize that we've been transported to a new reality. When I use special effects, I know what I am doing and I shoot exactly what is needed. In general, I create the effects or work very closely with the people who do." (credit)
The video gained praise by many, including MTV (Breakthrough Video), numerous industry awards and nominations, etc. The effects used in "Let Forever Be" were also incorporated into Gondry's three Gap Holiday commercials: Trees, Mountains, and Kids.
Excellent copies of this video are at sputnik7.com. See it also here.
