The One You Love (1982)
Lyrics :: Screen Captures
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"Plot" Summary : Here we have a love triangle. Glenn is in love with a woman who is still hung up on another man. I love this video because it finds creative visual ways to convey Glenn's plight while he shows early acting chops by really pulling off that vulnerable, love-lorn look and effectively conveying emotional pain simply with his facial expressions. The strategy of the director is to present Glenn in a series of stylized tableaus that represent the indecision of the woman and the way it is emotionally torturing Glenn.

We start with Glenn playing the piano in a dark room, then move to the first tableau. Glenn is standing in the corner of a deliberately artificial-looking bedroom. He's watching his woman on the phone with her ex-lover. His face shows a mixture of disappointment and resignation. When the scene moves back to the original room where he's playing, we discover that, too, is a representative tableau. The camera pulls back to reveal the woman and the rival dancing closeby, spotlit as Glenn's eyes travel from the keyboard to them.

The third tableau takes place against a painted backdrop - again, a deliberately artificial setting. Glenn is dancing with the lady, then suddenly it's his rival dancing with her, then Glenn, then the rival. Glenn has the tortured look of a man who knows the girl he wants more than anything doesn't feel the same way about him, but he loves her so much he doesn't care.

The next and, in my opinion, most effective tableau shows the woman and Glenn's rival in a car having a grand old time as snow falls around them. The camera pulls back to show Glenn literally and metaphorically left out in the cold. He warms himself by a fire a few feet from the car where the couple frolics. He doesn't look angry - just sad, which of course has all the ladies watching the TV wanting to comfort him and tell him to ditch the skank for a woman who appreciates him.

The video closes back in the stylized bedroom, with a change to the tableau. Now both men are in the room, but neither are watching the woman. Both have their eyes averted. Makes you wonder if the "winner" will really be thanking the stars above once he gets the prize.

 

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