 The video for "Partition" was directed by Jake Nava and was shot at the Parisian cabaret club, Crazy Horse. It was filmed quickly as Jay-Z had to travel to London for a concert after the shooting. In a video commentary to the album, Beyoncé said: "The day that I got engaged was my husband's birthday and I took him to Crazy Horse. And I remember thinking,' Damn, these girls are fly. 'I just thought it was the ultimate sexy show I've ever seen. And I was like, 'I wish I was up there, I wish I could perform that for my man ...' So that's what I did for the video." Talking about the video, Nava noted that for the shooting Beyoncé was trying to be "even more risque than she's been in the past". While filming, he further tried to "create and capture a bit of genuine intimacy" between the singer and her husband. During a commentary about the video for the song, Beyoncé revealed her motivation to film it by saying,
