You have probably already seen it. Scarlett Johansson catching a morning breeze in her handbag. A handbag that also swallows the sound of a middle-sized dog barking and a few drops of her blood. Very practical. At some point she even smashes a vase, which is frankly how many of us feel about Mondays. Weird? Of course. Then you remember the person behind the camera is Yorgos Lanthimos, king of surreal awkward silences, absurd rituals, and humour darker than your first morning coffee. Suddenly it makes sense. You half expect the Cannes audience to rise for a standing ovation. Except it isn't a film, it is a Prada campaign. And the bag is playing co-lead.

Yorgos Lanthimos has just directed Prada’s latest campaign film, titled Ritual Identities, with Scarlett Johansson at its centre. The star of the show — apart from Scarlett herself, who plays several versions of herself — is the Prada Galleria bag. Scarlett’s mission? To fill it with an assortment of bizarre ingredients (yes, including the barking).

In true Lanthimos fashion, the result is unsettling yet mesmerising. Scarlett wanders through New York, moving between ordinary spaces — apartments, streets, workplaces — yet performing strange rituals with an eerie calm. The film captures the Lanthimos trademarks: fractured identities, choreographed oddities, and a creeping sense of absurd theatre.

Scarlett herself summed it up neatly when speaking to Harper’s Bazaar: she plays many versions of herself, embodying the duality that exists in all of us. Classic Lanthimos territory — he has somehow turned a handbag commercial into a meditation on identity, ritual, and existence. And Prada is, naturally, delighted to let its bag star as the vessel of this existential quest.

Lanthimos may be the latest, but he isn't the first. Fashion has been courting auteurs for decades, turning brand campaigns into mini-masterpieces. Think of it as couture cinema: condensed, stylish, and usually a touch ridiculous.

Why does someone with an Oscar nomination or a Palme d’Or say yes to a perfume or handbag advert? Simple:

For directors, it isn't just financial. It is a creative playground, where they can test ideas and exaggerate their style without the burden of a two-hour runtime and eight-digits budgets (though they say Scorsese's Chanel commercial with Nicole Kidman cost $33 million). Sometimes they are even freer to be themselves than in cinema. And if they make a handbag look existentially profound along the way — everybody wins.

To prove that fashion campaigns can be as thrilling as film festivals, we have selected six shorts by outstanding directors, which together run just around ten minutes but will keep you smiling long after.

Spike Jonze × Kenzo (2016)

Margaret Qualley, in a gown, abandons a black-tie dinner and proceeds to dance like a woman possessed. She kicks, punches, pulls faces, and storms through a hall of mirrors while lasers fire. It is joyous chaos — perfume commercial as exorcism.

David Lynch × Jil Sander (1993)

Perfume plus Lynch equals unsettling fever dream. His short for Jil Sander’s “Background” fragrance features smoke, shadows, and a big cat (yes, a panther). It feels like a deleted scene from Wild At Heart that wandered onto a fashion set. Terrifying and elegant in equal measure.

Giuseppe Tornatore × Dolce & Gabbana (2003)

Giuseppe Tornatore and Dolce & Gabbana share a long love story built on Italian drama across generations. Their forever muse Monica Bellucci appears here as a despairing widow, roaming a Sicilian street with all the grandeur of a 1960s melodrama. In less than a minute you get it all — grief, irony, beauty, and a story that feels like the trailer for a film you suddenly want to watch.

Martin Scorsese × Chanel (2010)

Bleu de Chanel becomes a mini-thriller. Gaspard Ulliel flees journalists, dashes through collapsing sets, and witnesses his marriage fall, all while echoing Antonioni’s Blow-Up. In 60 seconds, Marty delivers more drama than most features.

Guy Ritchie × H&M × David Beckham (2013)

Picture this: David Beckham locked out of his Hollywood villa in nothing but boxers, forced to dash through streets, pools, and gardens in pursuit of his dignity (and his dressing gown). In Ritchie’s hands, the whole escapade plays out like a tongue-in-cheek gangster short — fast cuts, wry humour, and a protagonist who happens to be a football legend. The boxer brief may have peaked here, but the ad remains a defining image of early 2010s fashion storytelling.

Joe Wright × Chanel (2011)

After the triumph of Pride & Prejudice, Joe Wright reunited with his muse Keira Knightley, this time skipping period gowns for motorbike, Paris, and some chemistry. Knightley glides through the city with cinematic and effortless elegance. It is poetic, slightly ironic, and a reminder that Keira Knightley is one of the very few people alive who can pull off a beige jumpsuit.