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| Portman |
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: (Rachel Portman)
One of the basic rules of adapting extremely sensitive novels about
character drama in tough cultural and historical settings is to avoid
screwing up the script by forcing modern analogies on it. That's
precisely the sin committed by director Wayne Wang and his screenwriters
for
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, the 2011 adaptation of Lisa
See's popular novel of the same name. The book details the "laotong" (or
life bond) relationship between two young women in rural 19th Century
China, their paths to marriage and prosperity taking vastly different
paths but the two enduring their hardships through letters written to
each other in their own secret language. Their lives are not entirely
pleasant, and it's no surprise that one eventually betrays the secrets
of the other and is forced to outlive everyone for many years as she
contemplates her mistakes. Many disturbing topics of Chinese history are
explored in the book, foremost the practice of foot binding. For the
cinematic adaptation, the story is given a parallel connection between
two women in modern Shanghai who are descendents of the original pair;
the film constantly shifts between the two sets of women, thus causing
most of the consternation of viewers. Critics lambasted the film as an
endless bore while enthusiasts of the book were discouraged by the
unnecessary addition of the contemporary storyline. Despite being
financed by controversial media mogul Rupert Murdoch due to his wife's
involvement as a producer of the film,
Snow Flower and the Secret
Fan failed to generate any appreciable income in the theatres. With
Wayne at the helm, it should come as no surprise that the collaboration
between the director and composer Rachel Portman continues for a fourth
entry here. Their first work together,
The Joy Luck Club,
inspired one of Portman's most well-respected scores, and many film
music collectors were hopeful that
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
would represent a return by the composer to that top 1990's form. Her
productivity, after diminishing in the 2000's due to her decision to
tend to her growing family, increased as the 2010's arrived, another
reason for high expectations from the Oscar-winner. Indeed, the music
for
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan will please her most
established crowd, for her approach to the 2011 movie is similar to
those she has taken many times before. A continuing battle with
stylistic redundancy, however, is Portman's most daunting career
challenge, and this predictably pretty entry certainly provides nothing
substantially new to collections of her most famous music.
The core instrumentation for
Snow Flower and the
Secret Fan will be familiar to any Portman enthusiast, but she
expands her palette for the occasion by incorporating elements you would
expect to hear in this situation. Joining a harp and string ensemble
(with its trademark violin and cello solos) is an erhu, pipa, and ethnic
flute for authenticity, but at the end of the day, it's no surprise that
the piano steals the show once again. The layering of the Chinese
instruments with Portman's typical ensemble is tastefully handled and
will basically remind of other famous historical Chinese scores that
also use Western sensibilities to address Eastern romanticism. The tone
of these performances is extremely consistent throughout the score,
never expanding to the depth of Portman's most robust melodic statements
of the past but also maintaining its pretty demeanor for all but a few
cues. The exceptions are "Bicycle" and "Snow Flower Arrives Late," two
instances in which the composer applies very slight shades of dissonant
electronics to instill a feeling of dread. Thematically, the score is
stereotypically true to Portman's habits, her main idea expressed
immediately and frequently. After a trademark three-note Portman piano
motif in "Lily Meets Snow Flower," she presents the main theme in the
fullest rendition the listener will hear until "We Will Be Laotong" at
the end. The latter cue opens with Portman's pretty interlude sequence
to this theme on piano, arguably a stronger identity than the main idea
repeated thereafter. A few other secondary ideas permeate the score,
also often on piano, though without fail Portman always returns to the
stoic primary theme. While there is certainly gorgeous appeal to this
main theme, it is never really romantically expressed to the same degree
as the secondary one. The score rotates between subtle, simplistic, and
elegant performances of its themes almost perpetually, its consistency
an obvious detraction. Regardless of the Chinese flavor, the composition
is so blatantly reliant upon established Portman norms of writing that
it becomes lovely sonic wallpaper fast. Portman may have been able to
cure this issue had she chosen to address the two different timelines in
the movie with significantly different instrumental language. It would
have been interesting to hear her apply discordant instrumental shades
to the same themes to represent the like bond but different eras. As it
stands, however,
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a score that
has a built-in ceiling to its audience. Unashamed Portman fans who
fondly recall their discovery of
The Joy Luck Club will likely
embrace it unilaterally, but the lack of dynamic development to her
style will impede interest from others. The opening and closing cues
offer eight minutes of solid four-star material. The rest will
pleasantly sedate you while reminiscing about the composer's past.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For Rachel Portman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.31
(in 30 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.26
(in 28,116 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes a note from Portman about scoring the film.
