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Shakespears Sister 'All The Queen's Horses' by Sophie Muller

David Knight - 22nd May 2019

A mere twenty-seven years since they last worked together, Sophie Muller directs Shakespears Sister. And it's a total joy. 

The reformation of Siobhan Fahey with Marcella Detroit, a partnership that ended very publicly in 1993, is one of the unlikeliest of reunions in pop. So with her music video directing superpower on full blast, Sophie Muller does not skirt around this elephant in the room. She makes all those decades of bad blood and animosity the theme of the video. The result will make you feel very good, for all kinds of reasons.

And crucially and quite rightly, Sophie references her own role in their original success. She directed three huge videos for Shakespears Sister back in the day. This one begins with a meeting in a deserted bar in Joshua Tree (who's the owner? who's the guest? the truth is blurred) where the black-garbed Siobhan and Marcie recall their past through a fleeting flashback of old Muller-directed videos - such a brilliant move - and then go on to deal with a few 'issues'... 

From there, they exist within and without a new version of their old Shakespears' Sister world - now Westernized, for the country and western-influenced All The Queen's Horses, and lit and photographed as Muller often did back in the early 90s, like old-time Hollywood movie stars, by DoP Steve Chivers - another crucial figure in the visualisation of the band.

Muller flits between humour and seriousness with the relationship between the pair. A sense that Fahey is the one that must ask for forgiveness, but Detroit wavering between that and anger. We're totally in music video world, but you can also totally believe in these ladies, and their real and fluctuating relationship.

And there are also cameos from friends and collaborators, adding another layer - Morgan McMichaels from Ru Paul's Drag Race (Marcy met Morgan for the first time when he was performing as Marcy herself at a drag night in LA and they have since become friends) and Nick Launay, who produced this new track. Absolutely marvellous stuff.

SIOBHAN FAHEY: “Shakespears Sister musically is me and Marcy but visually it’s me, Marcy and Sophie. Without her, a big part of the artistry and the story would be missing. It made me cry the first three times I watched it.”

MARCELLA DETROIT: “I think what Sophie did with it as well was brought a sense of healing, a sense of us making fun of ourselves and being okay with the whole drama that ensued between us. I just think it’s perfect.”

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David Knight - 22nd May 2019

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Credits

Production/Creative

Director
Sophie Muller
Producer
Judy Craig
Production Company

Camera

Director of Photography
Steve Chivers

David Knight - 22nd May 2019

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