Charlotte Cardin unveils the music video for Take Me Back
A film shot on 35mm in Sicily, where memory, desire and instinct guide a journey back to oneself.
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Charlotte Cardin unveils the music video for Take Me Back, directed by Vincent René-Lortie
At the heart of the film lies the idea of remembrance. The memory of what we once knew, before learning to protect ourselves instead of feeling, to perform instead of surrender. Charlotte and Leo are not strangers meeting for the first time. They are two beings who have lost track of each other along the way, much like we sometimes lose touch with the parts of ourselves that matter most.
A wave runs through the narrative. It is the force that returns when everything held back finally gives way. Both danger and salvation, it is the thing that could drown Charlotte and the only thing capable of waking her up. Leo has forgotten her. Charlotte has forgotten who she truly is. What brings them back together is not memory, but recognition. That ancient intuition the body possesses long before the mind can make sense of it.
More than the world we live in, Take Me Back is about the world we carry within us. A primitive, mythic and at times surreal world, governed by desire, fear and tenderness. A world where love does not speak. It moves.
Credits
View on-
- Production Company Denim/Toronto
- Director Vincent Rene-Lortie
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Credits
View on- Production Company Denim/Toronto
- Director Vincent Rene-Lortie
- Production Company Section80
- Production Partner Cult Nation
- Post Production/Editing/Color Arketype
- Sound Cult Studio
- Executive Producer Alexandre Auray
- Executive Producer Christian Tyler
- Executive Producer Caterina Colombo
- Producer Sise Drummond
- Production Designer Alessandro Bonaccorsi
- DP Alexandre Nour Desjardins
- Editor Nic Houghton
- Colorist Simon Boisx
- Post Producer Mathieu Taggart
- VFX Artist Olivier Masson
- Sound Designer Gino Visconti
- Audio Producer Vanessa Gauthier
- Choreographer Amy Gardner
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Credits
powered by- Production Company Denim/Toronto
- Director Vincent Rene-Lortie
- Production Company Section80
- Production Partner Cult Nation
- Post Production/Editing/Color Arketype
- Sound Cult Studio
- Executive Producer Alexandre Auray
- Executive Producer Christian Tyler
- Executive Producer Caterina Colombo
- Producer Sise Drummond
- Production Designer Alessandro Bonaccorsi
- DP Alexandre Nour Desjardins
- Editor Nic Houghton
- Colorist Simon Boisx
- Post Producer Mathieu Taggart
- VFX Artist Olivier Masson
- Sound Designer Gino Visconti
- Audio Producer Vanessa Gauthier
- Choreographer Amy Gardner
Shot on film on a remote heritage island in Sicily, the film brings together a chorus of sixteen dancers around its central duo. Costumes by Superyaya and St. Agni, the texture of film stock, and an approach inspired by continental cinema all contribute to a visual language rooted in raw elegance and memory in motion.
The project marks Cardin’s most ambitious music video to date, both in scale and production scope. The film also concludes with a hand-drawn manga animation sequence, continuing a visual thread developed across this new era of Cardin’s work. Acting as a narrative bridge between the videos, the animated outro extends the story beyond the film itself. The closing sequence of The Way We Touch foreshadowed Take Me Back, while the final frames of Take Me Back offer a glimpse into what comes next, creating a continuous narrative that unfolds across the album’s visual universe.
The film is directed by René-Lortie. The Quebec-based filmmaker received an Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Film in 2024 for Invincible. His work is defined by restraint, a strong focus on character interiority, and a deeply human sensitivity that emerges through carefully composed imagery. A cinematic register that finds a natural home within the world of Take Me Back.
