Optimistique-moi

"Optimistique-moi" (English: "Optimistic Me") is a 1999 song recorded by the French artist Mylène Farmer. The fourth single from her fifth studio album, Innamoramento, it was released on 22 February 2000. Dealing with parental relationships, the song enjoyed many remixes and formats and achieved success in France where it reached number seven.

The song was one of the most anticipated singles by Farmer's fans, mostly because it was the first one to be fully composed, i.e. lyrics and music, by the singer. A promotional envelope, limited to 150 copies, was sent to radio stations, but several of them were stolen within the recording company, generating a judicial inquiry. As consequence, the release on radio originally scheduled for 4 January 2000 was delayed to 11 January. A new promotional format, a white CD single, was sent in turn to radio stations. The release of the formats was made in two times : first, the CD single and a CD maxi on 22 February 2000, then another CD maxi and the vinyl on 7 March. Unlike her previous singles, "Optimistique-moi" was released under two different digipacks for the remixes, which certainly helped to increase the single's sales (nine years later, "C'est dans l'air" had also two CD maxi). For the first time in the singer's career, the song was remixed in the U.S. where it was released in underground clubs, with only the words "MF", which allowed the artist's name to remain undisclosed; however, these remixes were also available in France. Regularly aired on radio in the single version, but also in the 'opti-mystic radio mix' on Europe 2, the song also enjoyed commercial ads on television (since 23 February on M6), and radios (since 18 February on NRJ).

The lyrics are ambiguous and deal with parents-children relationships. It is both a love and reproachful song towards the two parents : a version for the mother and one for the father, but it is unknown whether the song is blaming the parents or thanking them. However, some verses clearly refer to incest: it is evoked through an allegory ("petit bouton de rose, aux pétales humides un baiser je dépose") and a phonetic pun ("tes câlins cessent toute ecchymose"). The song seems to be constructed as a dialogue between Farmer and her mother who addresses many criticisms to her daughter. The singer says she feels more secure with her father.

The verb "Optimistiquer" does not exist in French. According to the psychologist Hugues Royer, this word symbolizes the fact that the father is able to communicate to his child an optimist that fills with enthusiasm.

According to Instant-Mag, the song "is probably one of the most powerful, mysterious and violent that Farmer has ever written. The singer addressed a man she compares to her father "who was not like that" and "who was more clever"". However, "the father would do unthinkable acts (incest), but at the same time, his cuddles would cease her bruises. The former relationship with this powerful and magnified father, very ambiguous, is violently opposed to a mutual love that is dying". Several words of the chorus may refer to a lesbian poem by Paul Verlaine, Printemps.

The video was directed by Michael Haussman who also directed several videoclips for Madonna, Richard Marx and Paula Abdul. The screenplay was written by Farmer, and, like the majority of the singer's videos, it is a Requiem Publishing and Stuffed Monkey production. It was shot in Prague over three days with a budget of about 150,000 euros, making it the second most expensive singles video from the album Innamoramento after "L'Âme-stram-gram". The Road Safety Department wanted to censor the end of the video because the position of the singer - standing in the back of a truck - was considered as a bad example that young people could reproduce. Farmer trained herself for many hours with acrobats, as she needed to be in balance on a ball in the video. The video was broadcast for the first time on M6 on 21 February 2000 and won the award for Best Video at the M6 Awards in November 2000.

The video features Farmer, a magician, and some athletes who perform circus acts under a big tent. Many animals are included, such as lions, elephants, a snake, a monkey and several doves. At the beginning, Farmer crosses the big circus tent walking on a wire suspended in the air. She almost falls several times. While jugglers and clowns look at her with suspicion, a magician is benevolent towards her. After being lowered from her wire, she starts to move in balance on a leather ball, with a little monkey on her shoulders. Then, the magician dresses Farmer with a white coat and puts her into a big red box, which is then pierced by some dwarfs with swords. When the box opens, several birds fly away and Farmer ends up in a truck in the countryside, her arms outspread. She seems to be very happy. At the end of video, the magician has aged.

According to some analyses, the fact that Farmer moves in balance on a ball would symbolize "the cycle, the eternal repetition", and would evoke "the idea of a route to accomplish". However, "thanks to the magic of her lover / father (the magician), the opportunity is given to Farmer to escape from her martyred life." In addition, the video would be "fraught with frequent allusions to the phallus" (knives, daggers, skittles pins, whips, elephant trunks, all of which are used in a suggestive manner). The woman attached to the wheel could represent the singer's mother, the box pierced by swords would represent the uterus, and the doves would symbolize "the outcome of a liberating sexual relationship". Several elements of the video, including the monkey on Farmer's shoulders, refer to Hector Malot's novel, Sans Famille. According to Royer, the last scene, which shows the man who has aged, explains the whole video: the father figure was revealed throughout the magician, and conveys the message that only a father "can detect distress of his daughter" and help her to maintain balance when in doubt.