Synopsis

Set around the production of a moody crime film, the video follows a troubled relationship between a director and the actress he helped launch. Philip Oakey plays the controlling filmmaker, while Susan Ann Sulley portrays the successful star who decides to leave him. Their conflicting memories of the past unfold across the film set, where cameras, crew members, and editing equipment remain visible. The layered presentation turns the song into a miniature movie about ambition, resentment, manipulation, and the painful end of a creative partnership.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was filmed near Slough, Berkshire, in November 1981 and released in December that year.

• Its "film within a film" structure was inspired by movies about filmmaking. Susan Ann Sulley described it as a take on *The French Lieutenant's Woman*, while the concept also drew from the film-making drama *Day for Night*.

• Virgin Records treated the production as a major promotional investment at a time when music videos were becoming increasingly important, particularly with MTV launching in 1981.

• The cameras, editing room, film crew, and production equipment were deliberately left visible, making the video look like a behind-the-scenes documentary as well as a dramatic short film.

• The outdoor scenes were shot in damp conditions around Slough rather than in the glamorous locations associated with other major pop videos of the period.

• Jo Callis was meant to drive a Rover in one scene, but he could not drive. The car was pushed into position while he pretended to steer.

• The video's success helped establish The Human League with American audiences. The single reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1982, after the video received heavy exposure on MTV.

• The video's narrative echoes the song's unequal relationship: Oakey's character presents himself as the person responsible for Sulley's success, while her departure exposes his possessiveness and wounded pride.

• The video remains closely associated with the early-1980s rise of the pop music video as a serious promotional and visual storytelling format.