No. 5 the Film

No. 5 the Film
Directed byBaz Luhrmann
Starring
CinematographyMandy Walker
Edited byDaniel Schwarze
Music byClaude Debussy (arranged by Craig Armstrong)
Production
companies
Distributed byChanel
Release date
  • 20 November 2004 (2004-11-20) (UK)
Running time
180 secs
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
BudgetUS$33 million

No. 5 the Film (2004) is a 180-second short film directed by Baz Luhrmann (Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge!) and starring Nicole Kidman and Rodrigo Santoro. Karl Lagerfeld designed the costumes;[1] he also briefly appears in the film. It is part of a new breed of advertising crossover films known as branded content. It had a budget of US$33 million, financed exclusively by Chanel. Visually captivating, the film is an extended television commercial for Chanel No. 5 perfume. The film was initially screened in many North American cinemas during the "Coming Attractions" section preceding the main feature. During the 2006 Christmas season, an edited 30-second TV spot was shown on primetime on many networks in Canada and the United States. Kidman was paid $3 million for her role in the advertisement.[2]

Runtime

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The original version after preliminary editing came to around 360 seconds, but this was later edited to a more manageable 180 seconds, including 60 seconds of credits, for television broadcasts and cinema advertisements. Further cutting has led to subsequent 90-second (as seen in the UK) and 30-second (seen mostly in the U.S. and Canada) versions of the advert, shown after the first runs of the advert.

Plot

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A famous celebrity (Nicole Kidman) runs away in a pink dress in the middle of Times Square in New York City, only to get into a cab with the one man who does not know who she is, a plot line similar to Roman Holiday.[3] After four days in his Lower East Side apartment, her secretary (Lagerfeld) commands her to return to her life as a celebrity.[4] The paparazzi take pictures of her as she walks upstairs and looks at big letters, a graphical device often used in Luhrmann's Red Curtain Trilogy, on top of a building that read "Coco Chanel" with her lover standing next to them. They smile at each other and then the credits are shown.

Music

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The main musical theme of the film is Claude Debussy's "Clair de lune", arranged by Craig Armstrong and performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Sequel

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In 2014 Baz Luhrmann created a sequel film titled Chanel No. 5: The One That I Want. The film stars model Gisele Bündchen and actor Michiel Huisman.[3]

References

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  1. ^ "£18m buys two minutes of Nicole Kidman" by Jane Martinson, The Guardian, 22 November 2004
  2. ^ "The most expensice TV adverts ever made" Archived 2017-08-12 at the Wayback Machine by Andrew Partridge, RedC Marketing, 6 February 2015
  3. ^ a b "A Conversation with Baz Luhrmann on Chanel No. 5's The One That I Want" by Sunhee Grinnell, Vanity Fair, 15 October 2014
  4. ^ "Every second counts in $42m three-minute 'film'" by Charlotte Edwards, The Sydney Morning Herald, 22 November 2004
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