Synopsis

Set in a seaside circus, the video follows a performer with dwarfism who falls in love with a trapeze artist. Their relationship develops amid the routines, crowds, and melancholy atmosphere of the traveling show. As the story reaches its climax, tragedy strikes, leaving the fate of the couple deliberately haunting and open to interpretation. U2 appear only briefly, allowing the narrative and its cinematic characters to take center stage rather than presenting the band as the video's main focus.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was filmed in Ostia, a coastal town outside Rome, on April 18, 1989.

• Barry Devlin wrote the video's story, which gives the clip the structure and tone of a short film rather than a conventional performance video.

• The production pays homage to Federico Fellini's circus-centered cinema and to Tod Browning's 1932 film "Freaks."

• The ending has generated debate over which character dies. The Edge later indicated that the trapeze artist is the one who dies.

• Federico Fellini was filming "The Voice of the Moon" only a few miles away from the U2 production at the time.

• The video is notable for giving the band unusually little screen time, an approach that makes the song feel like the soundtrack to a tragic romance.