Buy it... if you enjoy consistently dramatic, somber string writing that is respectful and dignified, lonely and depressing.

Avoid it... if you prefer not to spend your day envisioning a funeral procession... no matter how beautiful the music.

Badalamenti

A Very Long Engagement: (Angelo Badalamenti) With critical praise across the world, A Very Long Engagement is the film adaptation of the Sebastien Japrisot novel about love lost during the height of the first World War. The film reunites director Jean-Pierre Jeunet and lead actress Audrey Tatou from 2001's Amelie and tells the sweeping tale of a young woman who distrusts her government's insistence that her fiancee was court martialed and sent to the front lines of the war for what would likely be certain death. She launches herself on her own lengthy investigation, allowing the audience to live through the trauma of loss with her, and the film's main appeal exists in the scenery that contributed to the film's sizable budget. An arthouse film at its finest, recognition of the merits of A Very Long Engagement have extended to experimental composer Angelo Badalamenti's score for the project. Badalamenti is best known for his collaboration with director David Lynch and all of the bizarre results that are usually spawned from Lynch films. On the surface, Badalamenti would be a curious, if not risky choice for a film with the traditional emotional weight of A Very Long Engagement, for the composer's works are often punctuated by experimental synthetics. Despite his orchestrally inclined scores for a handful of better known projects (Cousins, The Straight Story, etc), it is outlandish music such as Arlington Road that defines his career. Badalamenti is no stranger to foreign works, however, which is where most of his work exists, and his work on A Very Long Engagement marks the second collaboration between the composer and director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (the previous one being The City of Lost Children). The accomplishment of Badalamenti for this newest score is significant, however, because he manages to utilize an orchestral ensemble to accentuate to mournful journey at the heart of the story without resorting to any experimentation whatsoever.

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In fact, the score's only weakness --and it might be a significant one for some listeners-- is its extremely consistent somber tone. It's a downer from the opening cue to the final minute, rivaling the film's equally depressing journey with an attitude both respectful and dignified while maintaining an extremely restrained minor-key solace. Built almost entirely for strings, the broad strokes are accompanied by brass whole notes in a fashion that combines the most grim moments of James Horner and John Barry. In the opening cue, a very lightly mixed snare drum over the heavy strings and whispering brass account for the most volume heard anywhere in the score, with few crescendos heard throughout. Badalamenti makes sure to break your heart with the few crescendos that do exist, however, building up to them in the major key and eventually pulling you back to the ground with a sudden return to the minor. Without much counterpoint, the strings perform their simple themes in unison and never with enthusiasm, creating a loneliness that does begin to drag the album's enjoyability after 30 minutes. Variation is sparse, with electronic choral sampling in "Heartbeat to a Gunshot" serving as perhaps the most inconsistent element. Woodwinds occasionally flutter with distant tones, and the percussion does make itself heard with an occasional rumble. The only truly memorable aspect of Badalamenti's A Very Long Engagement is the title character's theme, appearing in full during "Mathilde's Theme," "Our Soldiers' Letters," and "End Titles." If you're a fan of depressing orchestral works, be forewarned that A Very Long Engagement isn't melancholy in overtly magical, Danny Elfman-like fashion. Nor does it have the same overbearing, resonating power of a James Horner string ensemble. True to its European roots, it practices restraint, and it is exactly that drab and ultimately non-descript character that reduces the score's listenability. For such a resilient young woman, there is surprisingly little determination outside of the alternating string motif in the primary theme. Still, beauty comes in many forms, and Badalamenti's score is certainly beautiful, albeit in the kind of fashion you'd expect at a funeral procession. ***   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download