WPGM Commentary: Amelia Coburn Offers Quiet Retribution On ‘Le Fabuleux Destin De Sandra’

Hi I’m Amelia Coburn, a singer-songwriter from Tees Valley in the North East of England, and “Sandra” is one of my favourite tracks from my debut album Between The Moon and the Milkman which was released in March 2024.

The song itself was inspired by the elderly French lady with whom I shared an apartment in Paris. She spoke no English. She did, however, speak to me about her life; a story of an existence at the hands of an abusive, alcoholic husband. His addiction led him to an early grave and his dying wish was that he be buried and that, under no circumstances, should she cremate him. Readers, she cremated him…

Beyond being a musician, I’ve always been passionate about learning languages. I have a degree in French, Spanish and Russian, so it’s long been a goal of mine to translate one of my songs. With the help of French folk singer Flossie Malavialle, I finally brought that dream to life with “Le Fabuleux Destin De Sandra“. Performing the brand new version of “Sandra” in the title character’s mother tongue adds a whole new magic and sentiment to the story behind it.

Sonically, “Le Fabuleux Destin De Sandra” evokes some of the wistful but also slightly ominous moods of Scott Walker’s work in the late 1960s. In releasing a French language version of the song, I am also paying homage to artists such as Serge Gainsbourg, Francois Hardy and Jacques Brel who all loom large in my influences.

It was important for me to film a music video to bring Sandra’s world to life, especially in Paris: walking the same streets she once took to and from work felt like stepping into her world. Her life held a lot of tragedy, but she never let it define her.

As with most things in my life, the process began with a mood board on Pinterest. I kept gravitating towards grainy, super 8 style videos. Growing up, my parents recorded all our childhood birthdays and Christmases on a camcorder, and watching them back now fills me with nostalgia. I wanted to bottle that feeling and pour it into this music video.

It was directed and filmed by videographer Chris Healey, who I’ve known since school. We’d always wanted to work together on something creative, but never got around to it because we’re based hours away from each other. Chris is pretty spontaneous, so if anyone was going to say yes to a last-minute trip to Paris, it was him.

He totally understood the tone I had in mind: melancholy, but never self-pitying, because the story behind Sandra is ultimately one of quiet retribution. There’s pain in it, yes, but also a glimmer of hope and power. In the end, she gets her own back. He’s brilliant at capturing the ideas I had going round in my head and putting them in visual form.

We started off by throwing lots of different ideas at each other. He suggested incorporating props to help me feel less awkward in front of the camera – the umbrella was one of them, which turned out to be quite practical given the weather.

He also suggested shooting half of the video more cinematically in black and white to contrast with the grainy, handycam footage. I loved that – it reminded me of all my favourite films by Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut.

We shot the whole thing in one long, weather-beaten day. Having lived in Paris, I had a pretty solid idea of which spots would look good and how to navigate between them quickly, which helped us make the most of the limited time we had. It was such a treat to revisit all my old favourite haunts.

We walked round the Jardin des Tuileries, went cafe-hopping, and accidentally got tipsy on overpriced pints at the end of the day. People often say Parisians are unfriendly, but I’ve never found that to be true. At one point, a runner actually stopped to let us finish filming a scene. He started chatting to us about how the red balloon reminded him of Le Ballon Rouge, which was something that inspired us, so it was nice that he noticed.

Initially I was worried that the overcast skies would ruin the video, but in the end it made everything feel really atmospheric. We had visions of grandeur for the final shot: me releasing the red balloon into the sky, and Chris following it with the camera as it floated off into the sky.

But of course, the wind had other ideas and the balloon crashed straight into a tree. It wasn’t quite the poetic finale we envisioned, so it’s a good job Chris is great at what he does, and did an excellent job editing it together so that no one would ever know.

Making this video felt like coming full circle: returning to the city where the song was born, and finally telling Sandra’s story in her own language. It’s a tribute not only to her, but to resilience and reckoning. Some stories need to be heard, and this one, especially, needed to be sung in French.

Watch the video for “Le Fabuleux Destin De Sandra” below.

Words by Amelia Coburn // Follow her on Instagram + Facebook

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