All the Allusions in the Lana Del Rey and Father John Misty Video “Freak”

Of course a Lana Del Rey video would be the first thing to make the likeness between Father John Misty and Jesus Christ (aka your Lord and Savior) explicit. In the new 11-plus minute video for 5-minute cut “Freak” — from Lana Del Rey’s Honeymoon album of last year — he’s dressed in all-white, head cocked to the side serenely, hair flowing in slow motion. Acolytes surround him, in rippling tableaus.

Except the acolytes are not a cadre of other bearded dudes, like in the Good Book. They are post-hippie-era, Source Family commune types, large-pupiled blond-haired women. Maybe Lana just really likes The Leftovers. The women read like objects of his divine, primal, heady, beard-too-big-for-the-body desire. Lana grins; it’s that free love era, after all, or some approximation of it.

Who else would they be but women who look like models tripping? After all, the concept here is an acid trip — of the most idealized possible types, on scenic overlooks on outside-of-Hollywood crags. Lana is, very literally, drinking the Kool-Aid — a lot of it. One imagines our heroine may be a post-Beat-lit devotee — no way to be sure though. “Hey Lana, [if you like Kerouac](https://youtu.be/Py_-3di1yx0, you might dig this guy Ken Kesey.”

Lana crams in another on-brand thing: She briefly traipses around a cabin that looks like Jacques Renault’s sex hideaway in Twin Peaks. There’s even a glaring owl to match. Lana always approximates a glossy, played-up version of the Lynch “weird Hollywood” universe, but here she’s mixing and matching her reference points.

And maybe you’ve heard what happens after the song is over — that’s right, a slow-motion waller ballet to Claude Debussy’s beloved piano piece “Clair de Lune.” What do you even say about that? Lana’s going for epic here, but not in the expected way. The Leftovers women, swaddled in white, bob about underwater in slo-mo. After four minutes of this, it’s hard not to want to skip through. But don’t cut off before its done, a deus ex Misty shows up at nearly the 11th hour — or minute — to rub that weird Christ thing in again.

“Freak” is a good song, and this clip is exactly what we’ve come to expect from Del Rey. One can’t help but think that she finds it pretty funny herself, and appreciate the way in which she dives headfirst into these video projects.