Synopsis

Set several years after "Don't You Want Me," "Louise" follows a chance encounter between a man and his former lover. As she travels through London with another man, he watches from a narrowboat and narrates the meeting as though reconciliation is still possible. The black-and-white video blends road scenes, canal journeys, flashbacks, and intimate images of the band, gradually suggesting that the reunion exists mainly in his imagination. Its melancholy tone turns a seemingly sweet love song into a study of denial and unresolved heartbreak.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video functions as a thematic sequel to "Don't You Want Me." Susanne Sulley returns as the Louise character, while the earlier video's film-world figures are reimagined in new roles.

• Sulley wears the same trench coat associated with her appearance in "Don't You Want Me," creating a deliberate visual link between the two videos.

• The black-and-white photography was intended to give the story greater seriousness and a cinematic quality. Contemporary music television reportedly found the result too drab or overly arty.

• Phil Oakey spends much of the video steering a narrowboat along a London canal while narrating events taking place on the nearby road.

• The production included practical set pieces, including a London AEC Routemaster bus being brought to a stop on a bridge and Joanne Catherall entering the canal water.

• Scenes featuring Oakey and Catherall in a bath have been read as an allusion to their real-life long-term partnership.

• The video was released in October 1984 to promote the third single from the album "Hysteria." The single reached No. 13 in the UK.