Synopsis

David Sylvian performs "Forbidden Colours" against a sparse, shadowy setting as images from Nagisa Oshima's film "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" appear around him. The editing repeatedly dissolves between Sylvian and the film's characters, creating visual links through matching gestures and movements. Rather than presenting a conventional narrative, the promotional video acts as an atmospheric companion to the song, connecting Sylvian's restrained performance with the film's wartime drama, emotional repression, and cross-cultural tension.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was broadcast in the United Kingdom on July 11, 1983, and was made as an official promotional film for the single.

• Much of the footage comes from "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence," the 1983 film scored by Ryuichi Sakamoto and featuring David Bowie and Sakamoto in major roles.

• The video's transitions were designed around physical gestures. Sylvian recreates movements made by characters in the film, allowing the edit to move between the singer and the movie without relying solely on conventional dissolves.

• "Forbidden Colours" is the vocal adaptation of Sakamoto's instrumental theme for "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence." The vocal version does not appear in the film itself; it was released on the soundtrack album.

• Sakamoto originally hoped David Bowie would sing the vocal version, but Bowie preferred to concentrate on acting. Sakamoto then invited Sylvian, who accepted the project.

• Sylvian recorded his vocal contribution in Japan in February 1983 at Onkio Haus studios. He wrote the lyrics before seeing the completed film, so the words were not intended as a direct scene-by-scene interpretation.

• The title references Yukio Mishima's 1953 novel "Forbidden Colors," a work concerned with forbidden desire and homosexuality.

• The official archive describes the circulating promotional edit as an excerpt running approximately four minutes and 44 seconds.