Actress Emily Blunt in the new Yves Saint Laurent Opium ad. This is the long (60 second) version; there are also 15, 20 and 30 second versions (and possibly more). The music is taken from Mozart's Requiem Mass in D minor.
Below the jump, le making of.
We posted the teaser and some other Opium ads here.
Update: the 60 second version is no longer online; this is the 30 second version.
Cute pet. Shame about the perfume.
Seriously though, does this remind anyone else of the very first Poison ad with the black panther?
Yes. And the Bvlgari with the lions. And seems like there was another big cat vaguely recently?
A very forgettable ad. Such a shame since Emily and Mozart are anything but forgettable.
I have to say I thought this was another big name fail. Emily Blunt does not look more than slightly interested.
This makes me want to watch “Amadeus” again!
Emily Blunt is a favorite actress of mine but I have to say it: a bland ad for a blander version of a once great perfume.
Yes…I assume she’s meant to look like she’s unconcerned about the nice kitty cat, but she ends up looking like she doesn’t much care about anything.
Never mind the perfume–now I want to get a copy of Mozart’s Requiem so I can listen to the whole thing.
Yes…the music is the best part.
The music is wonderful but it’s all wrong for this add! It’s a requiem for heavens sake and this part is the Lacrimosa, tears and crying, nothing to do with seduction, illegal substances or big cats!
Do get a recording of the whole thing though, I can recommend the one with Phillippe Herreweghe on Harmonia Mundi.
Often this requiem is just far too dramatic for whatever is going on the screen – and this time, I agree, there is a serious mismatch.
Emily is gorgeous, but totally wrong for the part. She is a little quirky (which I like) but the part demands someone statuesque and imposing.
And, yes, the music demands life and death matters, and at the very least, some emotional turmoil, and of course a funeral coach in the rain would be good…
I agree. I like her as an actress, but this is totally wrong (including the music). I think we need a WOMAN, a bit older, more ravishing and sophisticated, who holds some facial expression!!
I totally agree. In fact, I would go further and say that the advert is in very bad taste and shows complete disrespect for the words of the Requiem Mass. Coming from a Catholic country, the company should have shown more class. It is quite clear that they have no affinity with music and it’s meaning and no sensitivity towards anything religious. They should get themselves a musical adviser as clearly the one they have is useless!
I like the kitty. It’s so cute.
Did Opium change its formulation when they changed bottles?
Yes, reportedly.
Although I agree with the previous comments, perfume ads (even for the reformulated classic ones) are still among the most interesting, sensually, visually and audibly appealing, than any other ads on TV and/or movie theaters. At least they get one’s mind going–one way or the other.
So the cat is guarding the perfume, I take it, but when it sees it is Emily, it allows her in. So what? No wonder she looks disengaged. There is nothing to engage with.
I never saw a perfume ad that wasn’t entirely ridiculous and I was willing to accept this one as average until the (apparently necessary for the genre) rolling-on-the-back-tracing-the-fingers-sensually-between-the-breasts shot. It’s an awful moment in a whispy bedroom shot with model-X in nothing but sheets and an even worse moment with a recognisable face wearing a black pant suit.
Have you seen the ad for Penhaglions Juniper Sling, that one is funny and no rolling-on-the-back in sight!