Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you've been longing to hear Rachel Portman's romantic string writing of the 1990's once again, even if it breaks absolutely no new ground. Avoid it... even though you've enjoyed Portman's classics of the 1990's if you're looking for a score that takes that trademark sound in any significantly fresh direction. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
The Duchess: (Rachel Portman) Films like The Duchess, just the latest entry in a series of British period dramas that goes back decades, seemingly regurgitate the same basic plot elements and production values with only one thing in mind nowadays: Oscar gold. There is no doubt that Saul Dibb's 2008 film is one such arthouse venture with aspirations of mainstream success. Unfortunately, it is the kind of film that is best suited to be one of the many similar BBC television entries, despite its lavish art direction and costume design. The story tells of the plight of the Duchess of Devonshire in 18th Century England, a time and place that doesn't smile upon the kind of liberties that she seeks to explore in another otherwise male-dominated culture. The story contains many of the elements of a common romance novel, and there's enough naked flesh in the final edit to prove it. Unfortunately, there's really nothing new to be seen in The Duchess, begging for questions about exactly what was supposed to make this production different from its peers. This criticism extends without question to Rachel Portman's score. One of the great disappointments in the world of film music in the 2000's has been the decline of Portman's output after becoming the first female composer to win an Academy Award in 1996 and redefine the romance genre in much the same way that John Barry had accomplished in the 1980's. Her voice was distinct and reliable, establishing a strong group of supporters with her lush string-dominated sensibilities and passionate themes. After 2000's The Legend of Bagger Vance, her assignments became more varied in genre and the intensity of that romantic sound was largely lost. Two relatively weak scores in 2006 and no activity in 2007 is followed finally by The Duchess, a score that bridges the days of her late 1990's conventions with some of the darker material she explored in 2005's Oliver Twist. Fans of the composer will be pleased by this turn of events, even if she breaks absolutely no ground in this effort. Conversely, detractors of that same career sound of Portman should be warned. If ever there was a score that met every expectation and didn't really need a review, it would be something like this. The ensemble is predictable. A lush string section is joined by piano, harp, and cimbalom, though unlike many of Portman's previous scores, The Duchess is led by a cello soloist in a fashion not much unlike John Williams' usual techniques. The string section is also dominated by its lower ranks for this work, producing the necessary tone of repression that exists in the film. The title theme is very much vintage Portman, though her progressions are a bit more melodramatically mainstream (which would have led to a better possibility of adapting this theme into a song than, perhaps, her previous works). The upbeat incarnations of this theme are accompanied by the usual bouncy underlying rhythms by the second half of the strings, with pleasing performances opening and closing the score. A John Barry-like repetition of certain phrases in the theme (along with hanging high notes) gives the theme an expansive feel, though there is an intimacy and sincerity that is seemingly diminished when compared especially to the similar themes for The Legend of Bagger Vance and The Cider House Rules. In "Mistake of Your Life" and several other cues, however, Portman takes the score in a more ominous direction, highlighted by a somber, but enticingly elegant performance of the theme on piano. Roughly a third of the tracks on the Lakeshore Records album (that label has, over the years, become Portman's primary commercial outlet) feature the kind of layered, harmonic volume that provides an engaging listening experience. The remainder of the score is surprisingly drab, exposing the album's length as one of its weaknesses. The only outward moment of dissonance or disruptively troublesome tone comes in the bass strings' menace in "Rape." Otherwise, much of the score meanders without much to describe it. This is, like many of Portman's scores, a largely redundant work, and when you subtract the eight minutes of Beethoven and Haydn source material in the middle, you end up with 34 minutes of music that likely should have been condensed down to an album presentation of 20 to 25 minutes. Still, Portman could be positioned to pick up another Oscar nomination for The Duchess if the film bucks its initial critical skepticism and manages to gain traction with voters. It's a pleasant and nostalgic return to the days of Portman's lovely romance writing, but that alone can no longer attract top ratings. *** Track Listings:
Total Time: 42:00
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