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Review of To Olivia (Debbie Wiseman)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if Debbie Wiseman's soft romantic lyricism is a consistent winner for you, this work offering her melodic charm with highly restrained but alluring grace.

Avoid it... if you find it challenging to embrace dramatic character scores that exhibit extremely slow pacing, sparse symphonic depth, and solemn introspection.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

To Olivia: (Debbie Wiseman) While many children and parents alike appreciate the impact of novelist Roald Dahl in his famously macabre but still kindhearted stories, the man's personal life was anything but smooth. While married to lead actress Patricia Neal in the 1960's, the couple suffered the tragedy of losing one of their daughters to measles, and this event caused extraordinary stress in their marriage and led Dahl to spend his lifetime advocating for vaccinations. The 2021 British film To Olivia, distributed via Sky Cinema in the United Kingdom and later America for streaming only, concentrates on the 1962-1963 time period involving the tragedy and triumphs of the family as they lose the daughter and reconcile with renewed purpose. The movie was met with only marginal praise, in part because it largely ignores the more controversial aspects of Dahl's life in favor of more sympathetic characteristics; the man's notorious antisemitism and other bigotry severely damaged his reputation by the 1980's, and Neal split from him and lived another two decades after Dahl's death in 1990. Director John Hay hasn't fashioned a particularly successful career, but film score enthusiasts remain grateful to him for providing continued feature film work for British composer Debbie Wiseman. A versatile throwback to the masters of lyricism from a prior age, Wiseman burst onto the scene in the 1990's with several notable dramatic film scores, carrying over into the 2000's with outstanding orchestral action and fantasy work for Arsène Lupin and Lesbian Vampire Killers. Her romantic side often prevails in her work, however, and her lovable music for Hay's The Truth About Love remains a hidden gem that rivals the best of Rachel Portman's airy music of the period. She spent most of the 2010's writing classical pieces and the scores for somewhat B-rate television series, with the occasionally pretty but underwhelming Edie serving as her only feature credit in the latter half of the decade. For Wiseman enthusiasts, To Olivia is an enticing dose of nostalgia; with the composer in only her late 50's, there is always hope that she will shift to mainstream cinema once again, and this work is a small step in that direction. The trademark lyricism of Wiseman's past continues in To Olivia but with extreme restraint. This is music dominated by introspection, so while the orchestral base of the work is broadly solid, don't expect the same lofty ensemble highlights or expansive dynamism of Wiseman's past highlights.

Wiseman confessed to substantial challenges in finding the right thematic core for To Olivia, eventually deciding upon a two-part theme for the movie that represents the girl in its sum and the two parents in its parts. The work offers representation from all the symphonic ranks, though the performances are rather sparse in the soundscape. Wiseman's basic trademarks are heard throughout, highlighted by her tendency to apply French horns as counterpoint to strings, as in the opening of "People Always Say That at the End," but don't expect any vigor or passion from the players. At its most melodic, To Olivia is a romantic score but not a lush one, extreme restraint and a lack of ambient fullness contributing to a diminished overall impact. (The score's recording was delayed by the pandemic, but it did commence with social distancing once possible.) Strings often carry the day, though piano solos occupy the more contemplative moments. Rare woodwind and brass accents are not as engaging as bright percussion led by ample chimes, a holdover from The Truth About Love, and periodic acoustic guitar performances. A xylophone offers the most tender child-like passages while tasteful electronic ambience beefs up the middle passages of the score during its darkest struggles. The theme is omnipresent in the first and final acts of the film, establishing the happy family and returning as it learns to live without the daughter. The primary phrases of the theme, often conveyed on piano, are heard in the first minute of "To Olivia," and this identity seems best matched to Dahl's personal journey. The second minute of that cue explores the secondary string and guitar identity that follows Neal during her flightier glamour in "The Film Star and the Fairy Tribute" and "And the Oscar Goes To...," and this identity is where the heart strings are really pulled by this score. The primary phrase stews rather anonymously for much of the score until its resurrection in "Sorry a Second Time," its optimism joined by Neal's identity in the interlude placement in which it was originally encountered. These moments of lyricism are the score's obvious highlight, but they are somewhat redundant. The softly turbulent middle passages of the score contain descending phrasing of somber intent, heard best in "Gone for a Walk," that seems related to the secondary identity in the main theme. The score's most effective portions are those that balance this darkness with the actual theme, as in "Twisted in a Good Way." On the whole, the main theme of To Olivia is certainly alluring, but its repetitive restraint and incredibly slow pacing will lose some listeners. The secondary interlude phrase is solemnly gorgeous, however, and Wiseman collectors will find much to like in this relaxing experience.  ****

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 49:20

• 1. To Olivia (3:10) • 2. Gus, the Giant and the Peach (3:13) • 3. An Everlasting Gobstopper and a Shivery Smile (3:43) • 4. The Film Star and the Fairy Tribute (1:14) • 5. Only Trying to Be Nice (1:41) • 6. You're an Idiot (1:09) • 7. A Message for the Kids (1:21) • 8. An Emergency Like Now (2:29) • 9. Not Allowed to Say Her Name (2:49)

• 10. Everybody Hold Hands (1:48) • 11. Gone For a Walk (2:52) • 12. You Fix Things, Roald (4:03) • 13. Sorry a Second Time (5:18) • 14. Twisted in a Good Way (2:16) • 15. People Always Say That at the End (3:19) • 16. We All Become Stories (1:36) • 17. Rough on Everybody (3:51) • 18. And the Oscar Goes To... (3:28)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The insert includes notes about the score from both the composer and the director.

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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from To Olivia are Copyright © 2021, Decca Classics and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 5/16/21 (and not updated significantly since).