Joy Crookes' throws herself into a relationship, for better and for worse, in an impressive step into a full-blown narrative video by directing duo Ethan & Tom.

In the video for Painkiller, Ethan & Tom put an engagingly fresh spin on the story of a faltering love affair. That is partly down to the structure, but mainly due to how good Joy Crookes is in the role, and her chemistry with her leading man.

Shot across Chicago, the film follows Joy through the city as the scales tip - from a happy start through to her waning confidence in the relationship, incorporating performance with the fastmoving narrative and then including Denzel Curry's rap on a karaoke screen. 

Joy's brief for the video was specific: the relationship should read as good at the start, and the illusion should come apart as the song does, so by the end the audience has watched a man's charm curdle. Ethan & Tom hold to that arc while keeping the tone light. The song has a tongue-in-cheek quality about someone who keeps being forgiven despite themselves, and the video carries that – it is a sad song shot with a sense of irreverence, fun, and abandon.

Part of the success of the video is the casting of Joy's leading man. After a conventional search failed to produce worthy leading-man candidates, Partizan producer Danny Herman street-cast Matt Whipps at The Wormhole Coffee Shop in Chicago shortly before the shoot. His unrehearsed naturalism against Joy's performance lets the relationship's slow collapse register as observed rather than acted.

Ultimately this is a confident step-up by Ethan & Tom into narrative territory. It moves between two textures – the immediacy of Chicago and the degraded warmth of tape – without losing its thread. With an excellent cut by editor Liv Ay, it reads as a breakup told in glimpses; funny where it needs to be, and honest about how long it takes to see what was in front of you.