“A soap opera from another dimension” is how filmmaker Anita Fontaine describes her short tableau for Swedish-Belgian avant-pop duo Victoria+Jean’s latest release, “Divine Love”. It follows the romantic conquests of a budgie called Smokey and its owner Lulu, played by The Tudors actor Annabelle Wallis. “I was thinking about science fiction films from the 70s and dating shows from the 80s: they both have these kind of fake sets that look like they are falling apart,” says the LA-based creative of the film’s aesthetic. The paean to lovelorn, soul-cracked desperation is taken from the group’s forthcoming debut album: “Everyone deals with love’s intensity in their own way—seeing Smokey vulnerable in her defeat reflects how slavish we are to our emotions,” they say. Fontaine previously formed half of interactive arts duo Champagne Valentine with Geoffrey Lillemon, creating visuals for the likes of Versace, Edun and Tate Modern, and also designed the the band’s logo and album sleeve. “I wanted to shoot a kind of anti-suicide film on top of the Golden Gate Bridge for it, but over time the idea sounded unbearably cheesy,” she says “Now, it simply celebrates the oddness of love.”

Divine Love is out now.