The video was directed by
Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris in a
black-and-white/
monochrome Gothic style similar to
Robert Wiene's
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, all influenced by
German Expressionist art. Elements of
Cubism and work by the graphic artist
M. C. Escher are also seen in the video. A cartoonish story line is juxtaposed upon the song; that of a young man's dream sequence. The band members appear dressed in black in unusual locations, with props intended to appear as surreal instruments. Throughout the video
Anthony Kiedis with short, platinum hair is seen in a castle tower. His stage persona is different and quite dark when compared to his more energetic performances in other videos.
John Frusciante plays a rope down a long corridor as if a guitar.
Flea is hanging on high voltage wires and playing them as if they were a bass guitar, and
Chad Smith is up on a tower with a rotating
medieval clock that serves as his drum kit. Jonathan Dayton: "We did look at Caligari, and we looked at a lot of German Expressionist film. But it was also very important to avoid 'Caligari.' It was both inspiration and something to work around, because it has such a strong, specific style, and there have been other videos that have completely ripped it off." Valerie Faris: "We didn't look at 'Calagari' all that much, really. We did, but then we just left it. We did look at a lot of the works of the futurist artists from the '30s, and the illustrations of the
surrealists and from cubism. We were inspired more by paintings than by films…" ==Reception==