“The Next Day” Music Video

Bowie’s controversial music video for The Next Day’s title track saw him star alongside Gary Oldman and Marion Cotillard. Rife with grotesque and surreal religious imagery, Bowie plays a singer in an unseemly lounge. At the end, all the characters stand still in a renaissance-like tableau with Bowie standing in the center. He breaks the fourth wall, thanking Oldman, Cotillard, and “everybody” to the camera before instantly disappearing at the sound of a church bell. Cotillard remains still, but all the other characters look around as if he surprised the actors themselves by actually disappearing.