Synopsis

In a dim hotel room, Trent Reznor and Mariqueen Maandig appear as a couple already marked by violence. Their bodies bleed and weaken while another couple carries on nearby, seemingly indifferent to the suffering around them. As the song builds, the room becomes increasingly surreal and threatening, with death, neglect, and emotional collapse converging in a final blaze. The video leaves the exact circumstances deliberately unclear, turning the scene into a disturbing portrait of a relationship consumed by resentment and isolation.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was the first major music video made by Rupert Sanders, who had previously directed commercials and a low-budget clip for Atticus Ross.

• Sanders described the central idea as the neglect that causes a relationship's love and passion to deteriorate. The couple's deaths were intended to suggest that they had destroyed each other.

• The surrounding characters were designed to remain ambiguous. Their apparent lack of concern, including one character continuing a phone conversation, makes the scene more unsettling than a straightforward murder narrative.

• The fire effects were created with help from The Mill. The production team built mannequins resembling Reznor and Maandig, dressed them in matching clothes, and filmed them burning before combining that material with footage of the performers.

• Reznor and Maandig watched the initial mannequin burn but reportedly left afterward. Maandig had already spent several hours lying in corn syrup used as stage blood.

• Maandig joked about the video's grim premise because it was her first video with her new husband, who kills her in the story.

• The video premiered on Pitchfork on May 14, 2010, before the release of How to Destroy Angels' self-titled debut EP.

• A high-definition version was included with the EP's "Hi-Def Upgrade," making the video part of the project's initial digital presentation rather than a later promotional add-on.