*This video is part of Peter Gabriel's 5050 project, where artists can use his music to create videos. I have already received permission from Peter's team to submit this video with his music for the competition. *
The base idea of the video: A man lies in the water, haunted by the brilliance of his beloved’s final smile. It is the phenomenon called terminal lucidity or One last goodbye (which is well recognized in my culture), a fleeting return of clarity and vitality that often comes just before death. People often describe it as “the candle burning brightest before it goes out”
The video begins with an abstract symbol, also foreshadows half the story: He sees a candlelight, at first small, then growing brighter and giving color to his world.The light radiates beautiful, colorful circles before being overwhelmed by the chaotic world outside, burning strongly and beautifully just before it goes out.
The full story unfolds: The main character, lying in the water, is a sensitive and intelligent man with a tendency toward dark thoughts. In the video, he sees the world in black and white (shown through charcoal and pen drawn art). He is naturally drawn to a girl with bright blue eyes and a radiant smile that brings color to his world. He grows up with her, confesses his love, is rejected, and watches her marry and live peacefully with her husband. He feels sadness but begins to accept it. Then one day she collapses, and it is revealed she has a fatal illness. The man longs to help her but is powerless, he can only watch her and her husband from afar. Despite her illness, the girl remains strong minded, as she has always been. Though she is sad, she begins to accept her fate and comforts both her husband and the man. Her last smile is luminous, so full of life and sorrow that it becomes the memory that haunts the man.
Back in the water: The man has lost his will to live and begins to sink. As he goes under, chaotic visions mix with his memories, deepening his pain. He drowns until everything turns dark. Then, in the darkness, he sees light above. He opens his eyes and tries to swim upward. As he reaches his hand toward the light, he feels another hand touch his and lift him up. But when he looks again, no one is there, only a beautiful light. Breaking through the water, he realizes the light is the rising sun. Nature itself has saved him. Being rational, he wonders: was the light in the darkness, and the hand, just in his mind, and the sunrise only a coincidence? Or was it something more? He also realises that the beautiful memories of her, though they wound him deeply, somehow carry him on, bringing color back to his world. In that moment, he cries, with a subtle smile, before sadness swiftly returns.
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