After enduring the overwhelming effects of recreational drugs and physical violence, she finds her boyfriend unconscious on the floor of his apartment, and leaves him, having had enough of the relationship.

Christian youth pastor Brandon Ward, John Colonnello and the Ulster Cancer Foundation criticized the video for Rihanna's portrayal of her character having sex while under the influence of illegal drugs and smoking heavily.

[1] Pictures showing Rihanna wearing a red bandana top, long flannel shirt, and "dirty denim", similar to the clothing she wore for the song's artwork, were leaked onto the internet the same day.

[7] On September 28, 2011, the shoot location was moved to a closed set in Titanic Quarter, Belfast where both photographers and fans were barred from watching the singer.

Matsoukas described the process for choosing O'Shaughnessy as the male love interest, stating that Rihanna had asked her to find a man she could "fake fuck" while filming.

The director said that she telephoned a boxer her friend had told her about, and asked him to make a tape of himself using the description of how the male love interest should act.

The chorus continues and the video cuts to a scene in which Rihanna and other people dance at an outside rave; Calvin Harris features as the DJ.

[18] Chris Coplan of Consequence of Sound praised the production of the video, noting its cinematic feel and that it shows the "ins and outs [and] ups and downs" of love.

Coplan compared the video to the film Blue Valentine due to its sexualized content and a narrative that consists of a couple in a turbulent relationship.

[11] Erika Ramirez of Billboard magazine called the video artful and poignant, and noted that it shows "neon colors, explicit sex, bathtub embraces and painful arguments of the couple's world".

[15] Jocelyn Vena of MTV commented that although the song is upbeat and carefree, the video represents the antithesis, depicting "a dark look at love and substance abuse".

[19] Amanda Dobbins of New York magazine was more critical of the video; she criticized Rihanna's undressing in a farmer's field as "the least of its provocations" and listed the activities the couple partake in: "smoking, drinking, dancing on fast-food tables, dancing at raves, heavy petting, stealing groceries, drunk wheelies, and bathing while fully clothed [and] candy-colored drugs".

[14] Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly described the video as "a Trainspotting-meets-Drugstore Cowboy portrait of wasted youth and finding love in an apparently very pharmaceutical place".

Greenblatt continued her review in a more negative manner, asking if it "paint[s] a too-glamorous portrait of crazy, stupid love for her young fans?

Or is it [Rihanna]'s prerogative to push the boundaries of dilated pupils, couch sex, and how many cigarettes two people can conceivably smoke simultaneously?

"[21] Jamie Lewis of the International Business Times noted that the video is likely to cause controversy among sections of the public due to the "multitude of illicit and illegal acts", and condemned the activities that the singer appeared to be partaking in, writing, "Rihanna can be seen swallowing unmarked pills, smoking what looks like marijuana, publicly stripping, stealing goods and vandalising".

[29] Eileen Kelly, a representative of the group, stated that the video sends "out an inappropriate message" and told The Daily Star that the clip "is a disgrace.

[29] The video was also criticized by Brandon Ward, a youth pastor of Oasis Christian Center in Staten Island, New York, for "damaging the moral and self-worth of young impressionable teens.

"[30] Ward wrote how he thought the video affects females' sense of self-worth: The real issue is that it moves the moral center more towards the obscene.

[30]John Colonnello, a youth pastor from Athens, Alabama, criticized Rihanna's failure as a role model for young girls and women who look up to her.

"[30] On November 23, 2011, the music video for "We Found Love" was banned from broadcast before 10 pm in France, owing to its violent, dangerous, and sexually suggestive nature.

[34] Goodman wrote: "during a heated argument between the couple in a muscle car, the Brown look-alike gives the Barbadian beauty a slap on the face.

[33][35] Critics noted that both videos were filmed in the United Kingdom and caused controversy there, both contain scenes of sex, violence, and crime, and both featured "bad boy" stereotypes and evoke the personal lives of the artists.

[33] Katherine St Asaph of PopDust noted that although most pop stars release videos that draw from their personal lives, they do not make the viewer uncomfortable.

Alexandra noted that Spears and Rihanna chose to film their grittiest videos in a country with a lower crime rate than the United States.

According to James Montgomery of MTV News, its main themes are sex, drugs, and violence, which feature heavily in works by independent filmmaker Gregg Araki.

[36] Many of Araki's films, including Totally Fucked Up (1993), The Doom Generation (1995) and Nowhere (1997), depict scenes of a sexual nature, drug abuse and violence as part of their narratives.

[36] "We Found Love"'s use of vibrant colors and imagery is reminiscent of Oliver Stone's 1994 film Natural Born Killers, which depicts two murderers, Mickey and Mallory, on a killing spree in the southwest of the United States.

The scene in which Rihanna and O'Shaughnessy blow marijuana exhalations into each other's mouths is stylistically reminiscent of the cover artwork on English musician Tricky's 2001 album Blowback.