videology

Rufus Wainwright’s ‘Out of the Game’ Video: Helena Bonham Carter Is a Sad Librarian

In the video for “Out of the Game,” the titular single from his upcoming, Mark Ronson–produced album, Rufus Wainwright plays not one but three less-than-upstanding library patrons in a world where Zen and the Art of Car Mechanics and Valley of the Flaws are real books. (So, is it a dream? A Wes Anderson movie? Discuss.) The wayward readers also moonlight as backup singers and a bathroom gang of sorts, but the real star here is the bizarro library’s lip-synching matron. Helana Bonham Carter as a rule-enforcing, mattress-ordering librarian — you’d expect someone a little closer to Bellatrix Lestrange, right? But no. It turns out that HBC is the most adorable librarian you ever did see! She’s also a little uptight, and pretty bummed about it — at least, until her mattress finally arrives. We won’t spoil the ending, except to say that HBC works it. Out of the Game is out May 1.

‘Out of the Game’ Video: Helena Bonham Carter Is a Sad Librarian