Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #2,194
Written 2/22/21
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Buy it... if you need a moment to relax and appreciate Clint
Mansell's understated, only slightly suspenseful light romance music in
a blend of symphonic and contemporary styles.
Avoid it... if you expect anything about that approach from Mansell
to address the period, scope, or mystery of this tale, the score a total
miss even when not compared to Franz Waxman.
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| Mansell |
Rebecca: (Clint Mansell) It had been a long time
since a feature film had tackled an adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's
famed 1938 gothic romance thriller, most of the potential competition
likely scared off by Alfred Hitchcock's award-winning 1940 telling. Few
remember, however, that the actual story of "Rebecca" was impossible to
show in 1940 because of censorship rules about depicting murders on
screen without repercussion, which led the Hitchcock version to a more
dubious narrative end. The 2020 adaptation of the tale by Ben Wheatley
returns to the novel's plotline while retaining its original setting in
place and time. The story tells of a random young woman who becomes the
love interest and later wife of a wealthy Englishman who installs her at
his Manderley estate, much to the dismay of the staff of the manor that
remains partial to Rebecca, the former lady of the house. The new wife
has to deal with this animosity while unravelling mysteries involving
Rebecca's death, leading to some grim discoveries and the eventual
destruction of the estate. While Rebecca is technically a
thriller, it actually isn't that suspenseful, even with the new film
aiming to bolster the supernatural element of Rebecca's haunting of
Manderley. Audiences gave the movie a chance in a hybrid
theatre/streaming release, but responses were muted at best. Part of the
problem was, obviously, inevitable comparisons to the Hitchcock classic,
especially with no modernization of the concept attempted. A rather
indifferent demeanor gave Rebecca no reason to excite anyone, the
rendition neither really scary or romantic, and this problem is
perfectly embodied by Clint Mansell's music. The English musician had
made a name for himself in Hollywood during the previous decade for his
experimental scores that built upon his sound design tendencies, and he
has occasionally excelled beyond these works when he ventured into broad
action or fantasy. One would expect that Mansell might have been tempted
to completely ignore the momentous Franz Waxman score for the 1940 film,
but the opposite happened. He watched that movie with just the isolated
score playing, and he marveled at the complexity of the composition. He
and Wheatley decided not to attempt such a broad and extroverted tone of
swirling orchestral romance. (Waxman's score is impressively adept at
emulating the swells of water.) After all, in their estimation, Waxman's
score was a product of its time, and modern audiences don't want to hear
that. Thus, they instead get something far less effective.
Mansell approached
Rebecca by recording a score
he considered more accessible to modern audiences, which means it's a
combination of a moderate orchestra, contemporary soloists, and slight
sound design and synthetic backing throughout. Unfortunately, the reason
Waxman's score worked was because the music, in the story's absence of
outright thrills, needed to overplay the emotions of the story. By
downplaying his own presence in the 2020 movie, Mansell doesn't
compensate for that same issue and thus fails at elevating the passion
or mystery needed for
Rebecca. The whole score is awash with
mostly pleasant but inconsequential passages of meandering ideas that
never congeal structurally or in style. A somewhat wet mix on some
soloists creates an occasionally mystical ambience, glass harmonica and
electric cello added for the same effect. Contributions from low
woodwinds and electric bass are frequent, the former a really nice
touch. Mansell's themes exist but are poorly enunciated, often tied
together by fragments of trios of notes. A descending minor third figure
seems to represent Rebecca and Manderley while a longer-lined
alternative growing out of that is a cold representation of the love
theme between the new couple. Piano and acoustic guitar explore the
latter in "Tell Me That You Love Me Now." The breathy descending figures
in "Rebecca, Always Rebecca" are followed by a rare and large string
finale for Mansell, a technique that also follows some slight rhythmic
exuberance opening "The Peace of Manderley" but not reaching anywhere
near Waxman depth. Without the core themes carrying any intellectual or
emotional weight, the score becomes a series of vaguely interesting
moments. Pleasant acoustic guitar ambience awaits in "Une Douzaine
d'Huîtres" and "A Bond in Common." Light rock shines through in
"Rebecca's Room," slight sultry percussion attracts in "I Could Fight
the Living But I Could Not Fight the Dead," oppressive, dissonant
suspense shades emerge in "The Shadow Between Us" and "Je Reviens," and
a terrible electric cello closes out "We Can Never Go Back Again." The
best listening experience on album comes from a strummed electric
guitar's rendition of the Rebecca motif with strings and light
percussion in "The Wings of Mercury." Overall, Mansell's
Rebecca
lacks a direction and a soul, ineffective to such a degree that the
final fire and confrontation cue is completely inept in the film and may
as well be absent. Nobody expected Waxman quality here, and the
contemporary musical elements are not the problem, but this tale needed
far more than easy-going but indecisive and mundane ambience to bolster
the story's inherent intrigue.
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- Music as Written for the Film: **
- Music as Heard on Album: ***
- Overall: **
