Madonna’s ‘Confessions II’ video: lasers, bananas, and the metaphysics of clubbing
From green orgone energy to an awkward Benedict Cumberbatch, The Guardian Culture dissects the moments in Madonna’s latest visual statement.
Madonna has released ‘Confessions II’, a ten-minute music video that serves as a conceptual follow-up to her 2005 album ‘Confessions on a Dance Floor’. The production premiered at the Tribeca festival and has since accumulated over one million views on YouTube. The video features a diverse ensemble cast including Sabrina Carpenter, Kate Moss, Julia Garner, Odessa Adlon, Christie Brinkley, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Madonna’s daughter, Lourdes Leon.
According to analysis by The Guardian Culture, the video is characterised by strategic ambiguity and symbolic imagery rather than linear narrative. Key visual elements include green lasers, which are interpreted as signifying "life force and unstoppable orgone energy," and a sequence involving a car crash where a figure is seen kissing an airbag. The production also features scenes set in a public restroom, depicting mixed-gender interactions and self-admiration without clear indication of whether the facility is unisex.
The casting choices appear designed to evoke the "metaphysics of clubbing" rather than a traditional passing of the torch between generations. The Guardian Culture notes that choreography and camera angles create ambiguity between Sabrina Carpenter and Julia Garner, who resembles Madonna in her Marilyn Monroe era. This approach emphasises the disorientation and bliss of the club environment over generational handovers.
Christie Brinkley’s appearance is framed as a subversion of the trope where a prim woman is placed in a debauched scene for mockery. Instead, she is integrated into the video’s communitarian atmosphere. Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance is noted for its awkwardness, with the article suggesting this may be intentional acting or a result of sudden physical direction from Madonna.
The video concludes with a "robot dystopia" aesthetic featuring futuristic masks and ring lights. Lourdes Leon appears maskless, ending the film with the line "Cut, bitch." The final scene involves the cast eating bananas, which The Guardian Culture interprets not as a sexual reference, but as a universal language of parenting.