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The European influence may not work as well in this context as Newman's feeling of Americana had, but the distinction will not be overly distracting for most listeners. The movie infuses 21st Century feminist morality into Alcott's characters to a greater extent, so perhaps a dash of European sophistication in the music was a conscious attempt to amplify that message. Helping the situation is the superior execution by Desplat of his core mannerisms, Little Women a joyous expansion of the composer's more exuberant side. While still maintaining much of the composer's calculating compositional prowess, the music for the film crucially presents itself as accessible and warm, applying his rhythmic techniques to propel the story forward with optimism despite the concept's fairly engrained adversity. (Some key moments in the film are left unscored.) The score manages to give heart to sometimes senselessly trivial actions and reactions by the female leads, the narrative flow of the score tending to favor a stream of consciousness handling rather than overwhelming development. Desplat's orchestrations are crisp and favoring the treble region, piano and woodwinds especially pronounced. The piano is frequently layered over itself, with a line of melodic development joined by a lower line of rambling accompaniment. In conjunction with pleasant string and metallic percussion rhythms, these elements provide for moments of near resurrection of Georges Delerue, the French romance master emulated wholesale in first thirty seconds of "It's Romance" and a few other passages. There are no weighty, full-ensemble expressions of dramatism, the work's moments of highest volume remaining on their toes. Naturally, the score loses some of its zippy personality as the story reaches its darker middle passages, and the composer notably shifts his instrumentation to lower registers to match. A clarinet solo early in "The Book" is not to be missed. While the film as a whole did not receive a dominant theme from Desplat, he does offer three of the girls recurring motifs. The theme for Jo March could arguably be considered the main idea for the entire story, as she is the glue that holds Little Women together. Hopeful and driven on piano, this identity contains a memorable interlude sequence highly reminiscent of 1970's John Williams romanticism.

Unlike the other recurring ideas in Little Women, Jo's theme gains momentum as the score progresses, heard in "Laurie and Jo on the Hill," "Plumfield," "Jo Writes," "It's Romance" but really making its impact in the three latter cues that dominate the third act of the film. The rambling piano lines late in both "Jo Writes" and "Plumfield" are blissful Desplat precision at its best, the use of the instrument as intelligent counterpoint to the broader crescendo of the other players a delight. The theme for Amy takes the piano to more whimsical, fanciful heights in "Amy" and "Laurie Kisses Amy" but the spirit of this idea is far less emphatic. Understandably restrained and melancholy is the theme for Meg in "Meg's Dress," relying more on woodwinds than piano for its creative but solitary identity. Cues like "Amy, Fred, Meg and John" and "Dr March's Daughters" tend to rotate freely between these ideas, and Desplat allows himself to stray into singular bursts of melodic asides at times as well. The opening running scene for Jo presents pure happiness from Desplat, and he turns the dial towards the minor mode in the lovely and slightly mysterious "Telegram." Desplat challenges Newman's style with strings in "Dance on the Porch" and offers comedic pluckiness in "Carriage Ride." Little suspense occupies the music for Little Women, the vaguely Mychael Danna influence on woodwinds in "Ice Skating" leading into one of the score's only moments of tension. Cues like "Father Comes Home" and "Christmas Breakfast" remind that this score is not entirely a picnic, Desplat's somber explorations of motifs dragging down the listening experience at these moments. The use of "Dr March's Daughters" as the end credits cue is a dismal underplay coming after the lively "The Book," which graces the splendid ensemble scene closing the film. For some listeners, there will remain issues with the flimsy narrative flow of the score, but some of that issue is exacerbated by the use of 19 classical pieces in the movie and, most unfortunately, an album presentation that is totally out of chronological order. An album loyal to the film and better enunciation of the main themes by Desplat would have greatly alleviated these flow issues with the score. Subtract fifteen or so minutes of muted underscore and Little Women is a charmingly affable and still melodically satisfying work. Yes, it's hopeless dainty in its heart, but how could you expect anything else? Desplat does dainty with pride, and his collectors will fall in love with it at first listen.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Alexandre Desplat reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.39 (in 31 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.22 (in 16,383 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

Total Time: 63:22