Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #518
Written 12/12/07
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Buy it... if you appreciated the elegance of Dario Marianelli's
piano-led score for Pride & Prejudice, for Atonement
provides much of the same spirit.
Avoid it... if the music genre of restrained British melodrama,
whether from Marianelli, Richard Robbins, Rachel Portman, or Patrick
Doyle, leaves you bored by its predictability.
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| Marianelli |
Atonement: (Dario Marianelli) The historical dramas
directed by Joe Wright have filled the void in the 2000's that Merchant
Ivory Productions had occupied in the 1990's. There will seemingly
always be an international audience for historic British melodramas, and
the same crew that adapted Pride & Prejudice with great success
in 2005 has returned for the adaptation of Ian McEwan's best-selling
2002 novel Atonement, also starring actress Keira Knightley and
filmed on location in Britain. The bittersweet love story involves a
privileged family's struggle over the affections of one of the servant's
sons. While a budding relationship begins between the man and an older
sister of the family, the younger sister's adolescent crush on the man
causes her to falsely accuse him of a crime. The torments that follow
would linger over the course of decades of love lost and, ultimately,
the atonement necessarily sought by the grown, younger sister. This
character's literary imagination is half her problem, and her typewriter
would play not only an important role in the plot of the film, but also
in its music. Italian composer Dario Marianelli's breakthrough into the
international limelight was confirmed with his Oscar nomination for
Pride & Prejudice, a score that featured the performances of
renowned pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet and The English Chamber Orchestra.
The same ensemble would be conducted once again by Benjamin Wallfisch
for Atonement in an effort to expand upon the emotions of
Pride & Prejudice, a score that performed extremely well on
album. With the equation set to many of the same variables in
Atonement, advocates of Pride & Prejudice will hear
similar tones of elegance and thematic grace. This is a niche market
that appeals to a wider group of listeners than most normal film scores,
and it helps that Thibaudet has pursued a successful solo recording
career during the past few years as well. In the inevitable comparison
between the music for Pride & Prejudice and Atonement, the
latter provides identical thematic harmony and class in its piano
performances while spicing up the mix with one creative and consistent
sound effect and two standout ensemble cues.
Marianelli writes two primary themes for
Atonement, the first following both the imagination and
maturation of the Briony character (the younger sister) and the second
speaking for the heart of the love story between the older Cee and
Robbie characters. The theme for Briony, written at the start of
production, would be intertwined with the creative incorporation of
typewriter sound effects true to a 1935 machine. The score's opening cue
begins with just the tapping and ringing of the typewriter, joined by a
single repeating note on the piano that grows into the girl's full
theme. The sound effects would mingle with the character's scenes
throughout the score, most notably in "Come Back," and while the mixing
of the effects is a bit too abrasive --it could have been better placed
at a wet and distant mix-- Marianelli often aligns the key of his music
to match the tones of the machine. The secondary love theme would
alternate with Briony's theme in the first seven cues of the score,
which together provide a superlative suite of ideas from the whole.
Aside from the omnipresent piano, which is performed with perhaps more
restraint than in
Pride & Prejudice, solo cello makes its impact
later in the score, as does a harmonica in two understated cues. Most of
the score consists of the two themes in varying levels of passion,
though Marianelli's two most startling and impressive cues for
Atonement involve war. In "Elegy for Dunkirk," a chorus provides
a respectful chant, and in "The Half Killed," a dark spirit akin to
V
for Vendetta briefly churns in a deep brass rhythm that will likely
impress fans of the composer's fantasy and action works. On album, the
listening experience is consistent outside of these two cues, and while
some people may be distracted by the typewriter effects (they're far
more obvious and less integrated into the sound of the score than, for
instance, John Ottman's
Point of Origin),
Atonement is a
pleasant and undemanding score. A performance of Debussy's "Clair de
Lune" by Thibaudet closes the product. Overall, the performances in
Atonement aren't quite as passionate as those in
Pride &
Prejudice, but don't be surprised if this sequel score (of sorts)
receives the same overflow of positive buzz around Oscar time as its
predecessor. In a particularly weak year for film music,
Atonement has even better odds at winning the prize.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
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Bias Check:
For Dario Marianelli reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.64
(in 11 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.33
(in 6,024 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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