AIDES | VIBRATORS | 2005
Life Is Better When It's Long / AIDES "VIBRATORS"
From France in 2005 comes a 3-minute-46-second animated film. A girl grows into a woman, meets man after man, uses a condom each time, goes through heartbreak after heartbreak, and at the edge of despair, finally meets the one. The title is "VIBRATORS," the song used is "Baby Baby" by The Vibrators, and the message is: "Live Long Enough to Find the Right One."
The idea
The story begins with a zoom into a house in the suburbs. A girl looks out the window, searching for friends, but is rejected. Time passes, she becomes a teenager, gets a boyfriend she rides double with on a scooter, and a string of sexual scenes follow — but each time, a condom is shown being used. She gives her heart, only to have it snuffed out like a cigarette. A sadist, a skier, a lover who just doesn't fit... the failures keep coming, and as she stands on a bridge in despair, a man who has been just as hurt appears before her. The two marry, and the film ends by zooming back out to the house in the suburbs.
What happened
This film won a Gold Lion at the Cannes Lions in June 2005, and also won awards at Epica and Eurobest.
Afterthought
The message "live long enough to find the right one" turns the reality of HIV/AIDS into a story about life itself. Heartbreak, getting hurt — these are things you can only experience by living long. And a condom is the tool that lets you live long enough to get there. That an ad from France in 2005 could be this frank about sex and still speak of hope like this really moves me. Life is better when it's long. That much, at least, is certain.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 2005
