Jake Gyllenhaal’s appearance in the newest ad for Eternity, Calvin Klein’s perfume that makes me sneeze, is supposed to be sweet, but instead feels like the beginning of a terrible horror movie.
The spot was shot by Cary Fukunaga—strange choice for a perfume ad whose campaigns have traditionally featured beautiful people rolling around in the sand and almost engaging in intercourse. This new direction for Eternity is an attempt at addressing “contemporary life” which I’m going to assume is code for the fact that Gyllenhaal is whispering e.e. cummings poetry to a baby he purportedly created with Liya Kebede, the other star of this puzzling ad.
“I carry your heart,” model Liya Kebede says.
“I carry it in my heart,” Gyllenhall replies, squeezing tight the body of his fake child, who gives him this look before giving in to his ministrations.
Gyllenhaal told The Cut about the making of the ad and the thought process behind it, but curiously does not address why the end result looks like the first fifteen minutes of a movie in which the father turns into a demon:
“The idea was free and like, Let’s try and spend some time together and see what happens. Love is simplicity, that is what this is, that feels honest to me. We worked really hard to communicate something that felt as real as it could be for a fragrance campaign, and the simplicity is what I am most proud of. Love is about the little tiny moments, as opposed to the big ones.”
Sure. Makes sense. This is definitely not the beginning montage to a gender-flipped version of The Exorcist wherein Jake Gyllenhaal is possessed and the demons controlling his body and mind are residing in his beard. Got it. All clear now. Thanks!