Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #201
Written 11/12/05
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Buy it... if you enjoy the works of Beethoven and could appreciate
their heavy influence on a score for a Jane Austen novel adaptation.
Avoid it... if you've heard countless interpretations and
variations on Beethoven and don't need to hear another one in the same
old Austen formula.
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| Marianelli |
Pride & Prejudice: (Dario Marianelli) As both time
and technology continue to barrel forward, it seems to take more and
more talent to do justice to the writings of Jane Austen in their screen
adaptations. With her stories already made for the big screen in most
cases, it's even more difficult to both capture the spirit of Austen's
novels and do so in a fashion that doesn't step on the feet of previous
adaptations while performing that delicate dance. In the case of
Pride & Prejudice, it's hard not to forget the BBC adaptation
from as recently as the 1990's, not to mention the renaissance of
Austen's work that hit the big screens with much critical success at
about the same time. The newest adaptation by Joe Wright, casting an
unexpected group of youth in the lead roles and peppering bit roles with
established actors, has been met with considerable critical and popular
praise, infusing the story with fresh blood while maintaining all the
necessary authenticity required of the story. In the age of
institutional marriage in 18th Century England, Pride & Prejudice
is a standard Austen tale of a family in the process of marrying off all
its daughters to the best suitors and revolving around one particular
daughter who at first refuses (just like her suitor) to fall in love
but, of course, inevitably does so. A great deal of modern readers and
moviegoers find Austen tales to be intolerable, partly because they are
so consistent and partly because they exist in a far more rigid and less
tolerant age of society. One of the consistencies that plagues the
adaptations of Austen novels on screen is the stereotypical music that
is often heard throughout their lengths, with the lush, sensitive works
of Patrick Doyle, Rachel Portman, George Fenton, or (non-Brit) Richard Robbins
often borrowing heavily from each other in their British sensibilities.
One of the most surprising assignments of 2005 has been Italian Dario
Marianelli's attachment to this newest version of Pride &
Prejudice.
Marianelli was similarly received when assigned to
Terry Gilliam's
The Brothers Grimm earlier in the year, a film
for which Marianelli brought a refreshingly European sense of dense
orchestral creativity to an American stage. Having moved from Italy to
London full time, Marianelli has scored films for less than a decade,
but has been involved with two projects that have won BAFTA awards. His
approach to
Pride & Prejudice (starting his writing based on the
concepts in the novel before production was far along) will easily be
the make or break aspect of the score for most listeners. In a tactic
that is often difficult to pull off successfully for most historical
films, Marianelli chooses to score the film with the exact music that
the author would have heard when first writing the stories. In the world
of Jane Austen, this means a heavy dose of piano and string-centered
chamber orchestra. Enlisting the help of renown pianist Jean-Yves
Thibaudet, Marianelli brings significant shades of Beethoven to the
table, ultimately creating a score that is intensely classical in its
most active moments, and personal and traditional in its presentation of
dances and marches for specific scenes. The highlights of the score are
the full-scale Beethoven interpretations during which Thibaudet's piano
is leading the orchestra at blazing speeds, including "Arrival at
Netherfield," "Liz on Top of the World," and "Your Hands are Cold" (the
highlight cue). This theme perfectly represents the fierce, unforgiving
side of the primary young woman's character, and in "Your Hands are
Cold," the last resistance of the character is served with a fantastic,
determined performance on piano. Several large swells of the string
section often accompany the piano, including impressive and full
statements of theme in "Darcy's Letter" and the end credits. The source
music for the dance sequences offers the strings in a jarring, less
whimsical recording, as does the militaristic march in "The Militia
Marches In," and these moments do break up the otherwise easy listening
experience. Overall, Marianelli takes absolutely no chances with
Pride & Prejudice, and in playing it as conservatively as
possible, he offers music that is both pleasant and occasionally strong,
but also travels a wide and beaten path that may not impress even
collectors of classical music.
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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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