Synopsis

Madonna wanders through the corridors of a Paris hotel before entering an erotic dreamscape populated by seductive strangers, lovers and voyeurs. In black and white, the video moves between flirtation, intimacy, gender play and implied group encounters, blurring the line between fantasy and reality. Madonna's character appears both curious and in control, using the hotel as a private stage for sexual experimentation. The clip ends with her leaving the scene, smiling and apparently satisfied after indulging in the fantasies suggested by the song.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was filmed in just three days in November 1990 at Paris' Royal Monceau Hotel. Its black-and-white photography and fashion-editorial atmosphere helped give the clip a deliberately sophisticated, dreamlike quality.

• Madonna's then-boyfriend Tony Ward plays her principal lover. The cast also included models Amanda Cazalet and Wallis Franken Montana, along with Jose Gutierez Xtravaganza, a dancer from the Blond Ambition World Tour.

• MTV refused to air the video because of its sexual imagery, including S&M suggestions, same-sex intimacy and brief nudity. The network said the clip could not be made suitable simply by trimming a few shots.

• The controversy quickly became part of the release strategy. After MTV's decision, Warner Bros. issued the clip as a VHS video single in the United States on December 7, 1990, reportedly the first American release of its kind.

• The video received a full television airing on ABC's *Nightline* on December 3, 1990, where Madonna also discussed the controversy and described the clip as a celebration of sex.

• The VHS sold more than one million copies worldwide and became one of the most successful video singles ever released. In the United States, it was certified four-times platinum by the RIAA.

• The clip has often been discussed alongside Madonna's later sexual imagery in "Erotica," but "Justify My Love" was the earlier video to be completely rejected by MTV for its content. MTV2 eventually included it in a 2002 countdown of controversial videos.