In 2016, French director Romain Gavras dropped a visual for Jamie xx’s song “Gosh”, so awe-inspiring, I’m writing about it close to a decade later. Set in Tianducheng, the abandoned clone of Paris in Hangzhou, China (complete with its very own Eiffel Tower), the video unfolds around an albino, revered by a sea of young men.

The cinematography is nothing short of colossal. Truly some of the most ambitious I’ve ever seen. And my, oh my, does it shine! Early on, the protagonist (Hassan Koné) looks out from an apartment balcony, surrounded on all sides by hundreds of his disciples, each perched on a balcony of their own—a breathtaking scene.

In another section, the children dash down staircases in a rush to meet the prophet, their movements so precise and uniform that it appears CGI. But I promise you, it isn’t. Not a single piece of VFX/CGI was used, which makes this production ever more baffling.

As the sirens and scraping drums swell, the video hurtles toward an unforgettable crescendo. Hassan arrives beneath the Eiffel Tower, chauffeured in a Subaru WRX, while the children form a ritualistic circle around him, heads bowed.

They begin to march as the camera slowly rises, capturing them from above. Their formation reminds me of the mechanics of a bank vault lock. The atmosphere soars even higher as they chant, arms thrown to the sky, the moment morphing into an intoxicating, almost religious experience. All the while, Hassan stands deathly still, unwavering in the flood of worship. Watching this over and over again, I think about conformity versus individuality, the creeping sense of a dystopian future, and the power of ritual and ceremony to bind a community.

Gavras’ video feels like witnessing a spectacle on a planet eerily close to our own, both familiar and foreign. Here stands a masterpiece from someone who thinks well outside the square. Hit play on it underneath (full screen and headphones highly recommended).