Alexandre Desplat is
without question one of the most prolific composers in contemporary
film. The 53-year-old Frenchman has composed for over 100 films
since 1985 when he began contributing to small movies in his home
country. Desplat composed the dark yet beautiful score for Syriana
in 2005, and this remarkable musical feat cemented his place as
one of the most in demand composers in the business.
To celebrate the home entertainment release of THE
IMITATION GAME arriving on Blu-ray™, DVD and digital platforms on
9th
March 2015, courtesy of STUDIOCANAL, this feature will
take a look at Alexandre Desplat's top film scores.
THE IMITATION GAME
(2014)
Desplat had a very
limited period of time to compose music reflecting the brilliant mind
of Alan Turing. Desplat knew that a big-orchestra approach was out of
the question—if not just for time’s sake, it was also too
outsized for a story reflecting the unique mind of one man.
Realizing that the visuals of the film would never be able to depict
the process of Turing’s brain, Desplat decided to make that the
focus of his music, paying homage to the godfather of computers by
using machines to randomly layer multiple piano tracks over each
other. The result is a an extremely atmospheric score to go along
with one of the films of the year.
The Tree of Life
(2001)
Terrence Malick's
controversial masterpiece took nearly thirty years to come to the big
screen, and with such a heavy burden of expectation, the film needed
an equally bold musical score. Desplat delivered such a score in a
typically emphatic fashion. His music is one of the film’s great
binding forces, gifting Malick the cohesion that he often has
difficulty establishing on his own.
The Fantastic Mr
Fox (2009)
Beautifully whimsical,
touching and bright, Desplat shows his versatility by creating a
score that is clearly out of his comfort zone but no less incredible
for Wes Anderson’s critically acclaimed The Fantastic Mr Fox.
Desplat produces a resonantly beautiful sense of homecoming that
speaks to the titular wild animal’s belief that everything will
turn out alright in the end so long as his family survives in one
piece
Birth (2004)
Even divorced from the
setting of the film for which it was commissioned, Desplat’s score
for Birth has the feel of a chilly afternoon somewhere north of 66th
St. These pieces are some of the composer's most luxurious work—so
garlanded with deep drums and dancing flutes that they genuinely
begin to take on the feel of the wealthy characters onscreen. The
recurring theme is a touch off-kilter, the perfect disequilibrium for
a movie about an affluent Manhattan widow who starts to believe that
her dead husband has been reincarnated in the body of a young boy.
The Grand
Budapest Hotel (2014)
Wes Anderson teams up
with Desplat time after time due to the almost telepathic connection
they have when working on a score for one of Anderson's films.
Desplat's natural ability to capture Anderson’s movie worlds in
just a couple of notes was critical to the filmmaker’s decision to
move into the world of moviemaking where the uniquely quirky ideas he
had in his head were finally allowed to be brought to the big screen.
The Grand Budapest Hotel's music feels true to the films
setting in a historically volatile period, its organ blasts and
harpsichord tunes resounding with the call for a great adventure.
The Curious Case
of Benjamin Button (2008)
This subtle yet
beautiful score – another Oscar nominated piece from Alexandre
Desplat – went a long way in providing the audience with the
freedom to really experience escapism at its very best. The light and
subtle tones used throughout added another layer of mystique and
beauty to a film that would change cinema forever.
A Prophet(2009)
A Prophet is the
masterpiece from Jacques Audiard, and composing a suitably gritty
yet beautiful score was always going to be a near impossible feat. As
you would come to expect from Desplat, he scored an elegant selection
of music to provide the perfect backdrop to this Academy Award
winning film.
THE
IMITATION GAME arrives
on Blu-ray™, DVD and digital platforms on 9th
March 2015, courtesy of STUDIOCANAL