: (Danny Elfman) Several
disastrous twists of fate awaited the troubled 2021 psychological
suspense thriller
. Not only was it the
victim of shifting studio ownership and a producer mired in accusations
of crew abuse, but the movie was also pushed back by the COVID-19
pandemic, which turned out to be a misfortune given its premise. Finally
released by Netflix via streaming after a theatrical premiere was
slashed by horrendous test audience reactions and haphazard re-shoots,
the film features a story about an agoraphobic woman in a Manhattan
townhouse who is suffering psychological breakdowns and suicidal
depression but becomes convinced that the family living across the
street from her is involved in a murderous crime. The plot contains many
parallels to the 1954 classic,
, and the trapped
nature of Amy Adams' lead, watching the world out her window and
speculating about it, would have been perfect for 2020 lockdowns had the
movie been released on time. Despite the troubles of that main
character, she is indeed seeing crimes in progress, and eventually those
perpetrating them come to get her and her only ally, the building's
manager. Predictably, someone is actually a serial killer and is
destined to fall to their death while audiences shrug. Those spectators
did watch the movie in large enough numbers to help recoup some of its
losses, but it's the kind of project that most of the people who made it
want to simply move on from. The score for
wasn't immune from the problematic post-production issues.
Despite director Joe Wright's involvement, his regular collaborator,
Dario Marianelli, was not utilized; instead, the producers re-teamed
with the edgy duo of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who wrote material
for the film but ultimately bowed out in what they deemed was a mutual
decision. In retrospect, their style of writing may have sufficed just
fine for the picture, though with all its endless delays, the project
became unsustainable in scheduling anyway.
In stepped veteran composer Danny Elfman, who admitted to
being attracted to the damaged psychological element of the lead
character and, with some help from regular assistant David Buckley,
cranked out an unassuming but decent blend of his own suspense
mannerisms and those of Bernard Herrmann for the tale. Elfman's approach
will please listeners who appreciate his more restrained, ambient, and
off-the-wall tackling of the genre, starting with
The Girl on the
Train as the obvious starting point that guides much of the work's
tone. Throw in some slight, unnerving ambience from
Dolores
Claiborne and the intrusive synthetic leanings of
White Noise
and you have a score unmistakably steeped in Elfman's style. The
off-kilter Herrmann element in
The Woman in the Window is the
somewhat distinctive addition to the equation here, chopping string
figures applied in this context even though Herrmann didn't score
Rear Window. Elfman was long an enthusiast of Herrmann's music,
and it in fact inspired him to enter the field of film score composing
the 1980's, culminating in his extremely faithful tribute recording for
the 1998 remake of
Psycho. The instrumentation here is dominated
by strings and piano, the latter for the lead woman's fragile state a
good choice. Woodwinds don't seem present, though some brass does
contribute in "Little Yellow Rose" and the outright horror chasing of
"Finale." Rambling synthetic bass tones sometimes interfere in later
cues for contemporary dread, and these contributions sadly cheapen the
score. They fare better when looped with care in the background of the
orchestral elements as an unnerving addition. Layered female vocal
effects likely supplied by Elfman regular Petra Haden apply suspense
with a slightly psychotic effect of shattered innocence in "Apple" and
"The End," though they don't advance the thematic narrative. The entire
score is built upon challenging harmonies, with no truly tonal moments.
Not even in the more accessible opening and closing cues does Elfman
allow easy relief or compelling drama.
The composer provides one main theme and a secondary
identity to
The Woman in the Window, both on top of a suspense
motif that drives the darkest passages. The primary theme is for the
lead woman, Anna, and provides the most engaging portions of the
narrative. Elfman keenly creates several different but related phrases
for the idea, all of them descending towards key, but he interchanges
their order at times to represent the woman's jumbled mind. Technically
the secondary phrase in the idea is a bit too close to John Ottman's
main theme for
Incognito, especially as that particular part of
the theme often repeats twice. The erratic ordering of the phrases may
make the theme challenging for casual listeners to grasp, but the six
and seven-note phrases are close enough in alignment to serve their
purpose. Elfman's main theme debuts at 0:07 on piano in "Opening Titles"
over thumping synthetic rhythms, all the phrases introduced multiple
times with reasonable accessibility. Undulating violin lines do obscure
the melody when they become somewhat frantic in this cue, and the
phrases are jumbled in order at 1:02 as the aforementioned
representation of the woman's mental ills, these sequences finally
outright inverted in order on piano at the end as the cue dies out. The
theme is slowed and badly fragmented in suspense early in "Scream"
though clearer on piano at 1:33, continuing its meandering in
deconstructed form on synthetics at 0:11 into "Pill." It dramatically
crawls on strings at the outset of "Anna's Aria" while the piano
struggles to enunciate a more hopeful, ascending family version of the
theme, and the strings carry a fuller version of this positive but still
tragic offshoot in "The Accident" as the woman's past is illuminated.
Again in fragmented form on piano in the latter half of "The Click," the
main theme is barely intact at the start of "What's Not Said" and stews
on celeste and piano in "Spirals-Father Friend." The ascending family
variant shows a glimmer of hope in the first two minutes of "The End"
before Elfman sends the theme back to its original form at 2:48 and 3:17
in the work's clearest expression of determination, the primary phrase
literally the last thing you hear in the cue.
The other recurring theme in
The Woman in the
Window is a spying motif for the various characters engaged in the
act of watching each other. Its upwards, octave-hopping alternations are
heard immediately on a celeste effect in "Opening Titles" and as
counterpoint to the main theme at 0:45 in that cue. Utilized prominently
and elegantly throughout "Voyeurism," this motif is subtle at the
outsets of "The Click" and "Preparation," softly enhances the partially
synthetic fear of "Preparation," and tussles with the main theme late in
"What's Not Said." It returns obviously on piano at 0:52 into "Dig,"
rambles over the main theme in the middle of "Spirals-Father Friend,"
erupts into an action motif during "Finale" on slashing ensemble hits,
and supplies quick reminders against the main theme at 3:10 into "The
End." Aside from these two themes, Elfman also revisits a less obvious,
skittish suspense rhythm that is almost a motif in and of itself,
especially in "Panic Attack" and "Apple." Ascending in structure to aid
in crescendos of fear, this tool explodes with force over clicking
percussion in "Murder" and synthetics in "Dig," eventually helping send
off the score late in "The End." Don't expect this idea to last in
memory, however. Ultimately, the composer's take on
The Woman in the
Window is completely sufficient but will bore most listeners not
prepared for its troubled introspection. There is enough vaguely warm,
accessible material in the renditions of the main theme, however, to
recommend the score for those who appreciate Elfman's minimally moodier
stylings. With almost 48 minutes of music in the film, there have been
complaints that the movie's narrative was overscored. Unsurprisingly
given the movie's ills, Elfman's work was never released commercially on
album, but he took the original, 42-minute promotional arrangement
supplied to critics in 2021 and released it on his website for the
public in 2023. A lengthy end credits assembly following the latter
portion of "The End" on screen represents most of the missing material
on this promo, but that music was redundant and thus no major loss.
About ten minutes of the score's meandering lyrical cues merit adding to
a presentation of
The Girl on the Train or inclusion on a broader
Elfman compilation. Draw the blinds on the rest.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For Danny Elfman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.16
(in 89 reviews)
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