"Justify My Love" is a 1990 song written by Lenny Kravitz and Ingrid Chavez and recorded by Madonna (Kravitz performs the wordless backing vocals). Now the song itself is unlike anything Madonna had done up to that time; a trance like ballad where the pop star mostly speaks the words in a seductive whisper rather than sings them. The lyrics themselves are as sultry as the instrumentation and atmosphere. Madonna would go on to employ this trip-hop like style in future songs, most notably the title track off her 1992 album "Erotica".
The video, however, is where the queen of pop really puts her endeavors into overdrive. Without a doubt one of the most infamous videos of all time, it was banned from MTV and other TV networks and considered an abomination of obscenity. Many felt the video's liberal use of sexual imagery which showcase a multitude of erotic fantasies and deviations were beyond what should be acceptable for television. As a result, the video was released as a VHS single and became a best seller. Madonna has gone on record criticizing the ban, mentioning the absurdity of allowing videos with violence and misogyny to air while shying away from "two girls kissing and two men snuggling".
Quite often music videos suffer from having visuals that don't match the music in terms of atmosphere and mood. This is absolutely NOT the case here. First of all the video is in black and white which fits perfectly with the song's flat dry tone. Stripped of color, sentimentality is gone entirely having been replaced with pure seduction and lust; two things that perfectly describe the song as well. The video is set in a French hotel where Madonna, a weary traveler, is settling down (whether it's overnight is never made clear). She appears tired, but in a contrived way that's likely intentional on part of the film makers, as no sooner does she collapse to the floor than a mysterious male stranger (played by actor Tony Ward) appears, seemingly attracted to here exaggerated strained movements. What follows is a five minutes dream sequence of sorts where people perform promiscuous act in their rooms with the doors to the corridor wide open, cross dressing is so prevalent that it's not always easy to distinguish one gender from another, and a petite man slow dances clearly not afraid to show off his "silhouette". One particularly controversial scene shows a dominatrix woman donned in suspenders (the only things beside her hat that she's wearing above the waist) aggressively kiss a man (the one played by Ward) held in bondage. It's really just one big slow moving orgy of almost every facet of eroticism in the book. It's clear Madonna just wanted to go all out exploring every sexual fantasy she (probably often) has. Employing no restraints whatsoever, she let's it all flow out.
This video is often cited as one of the greatest of all time. Now keep in mind that the authors who usually come up with such lists tend to be very liberal and strongly value rebellion. It's not hard to assume some of this video's notoriety comes from the controversy it generated (and its subsequent banishment) rather than the video itself. Separating the video itself from its reputation, I would have to say that the video is still among one of the greatest in the medium if for nothing more than how seamlessly the music matches with the visuals. Unlike most other pop songs (including many of Madonna's) this song completely lacks a catchy hook and instead lies purely on mood to carry itself through. And that's exactly what the visuals do as well. Here, music and video meld together into one continuous trance.
I'm rarely into erotic films of any type, but I can't help but admire this video from a film making perspective with its unique cinematography, lighting, editing, movement of the actors and numerous other attributes. Clearly Madonna pushed the boundaries off a cliff not just in terms of the message(s) she was trying to convey here (not to mention her goal to enrage certain people with it/them), but in the very video itself, though one can probably attribute that to the film makers (particularly director Jean-Baptiste Mondino).
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