Composer Threads The official Alexandre Desplat thread

[DangerMotif 1,038]

I think they produced the songs so they where apart of it from the beginning 

[Alex 2,835]

Maybe they kicked him off because he works with Polanski

[D_nev 89]

I am interested to hear peoples thoughts who have seen the Barbie movie. It sounds like to me that there is a little tad bit of Desplat's music left over in the final film during the scene where Barbie finds Barbra in the Mattel headquarters.  There is a bit of what sounds like diagetic music playing from a radio that sounds to me like an orchestral, quirky version of the main theme of the film. From my recollection, it gets quite big and colorful as well. 

 

I am curious if anyone else noticed this? If it is his music, it seems odd that they would include it but not credit him, but if it isn't him then it is a very convincing Desalt sound-a-like. 

 

It is also curious that the score proper wasn't released in anyway. 

[Alex 2,835]

It’s most likely Ronson/Wyatt

[GerateWohl 4,370]

I recently dipped into the one or the other Desplat score on Spotify and my summery is, that his scores are full of nice melodies, beautiful harmonies but lacking sophistication (for example letting piano melody and strings play unisono), and there is not so much variation in the material, that would make it interesting for me as a listener of the whole work. Even though "River Waltz" from The Painted Veil is a beautiful piece.

 

Anybody else the issue with Desplat, in the end somehow a little too simple to really enflame you?

[Trope 527]

2 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

I recently dipped into the one or the other Desplat score on Spotify and my summery is, that his scores are full of nice melodies, beautiful harmonies but lacking sophistication (for example letting piano melody and strings play unisono), and there is not so much variation in the material, that would make it interesting for me as a listener of the whole work. Even though "River Waltz" from The Painted Veil is a beautiful piece.

 

Anybody else the issue with Desplat, in the end somehow a little too simple to really enflame you?

I could not disagree more with your assertion that his music "lacks sophistication" or that the music is too simple or without enough variation to make it interesting. From my listening experience, he is one of the most sophisticated and unique composers working today.

 

Wes Anderson scores aside (which I consider their own music genre anyway), Desplat has written some of the most beautifully crafted, subtle and sophisticated scores of the last 2 decades. I'm not sure what scores you browsed to form your opinion, but never has it crossed my mind that he doesn't know how to vary or develop musical material. Don't mistake simplicity and clarity of expression with a lack of sophistication. His knack for melody, harmony and orchestration all clearly prove that he knows what he is doing as regards musical construction.

 

Check out (if you haven't already) his scores for Harry Potter, The Imitation Game, Little Women, Pinocchio, Secret Life of Pets, Tree of Life, and even Valerian. 

 

As a side note, do you have similar impressions of Dario Marianelli? I consider Desplat and Marianelli to be some of the finest composers working in films today and find they each have unique European sensibilities in their music.

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

15 hours ago, D_nev said:

I am interested to hear peoples thoughts who have seen the Barbie movie. It sounds like to me that there is a little tad bit of Desplat's music left over in the final film during the scene where Barbie finds Barbra in the Mattel headquarters.  There is a bit of what sounds like diagetic music playing from a radio that sounds to me like an orchestral, quirky version of the main theme of the film. From my recollection, it gets quite big and colorful as well. 

 

I am curious if anyone else noticed this? If it is his music, it seems odd that they would include it but not credit him, but if it isn't him then it is a very convincing Desalt sound-a-like. 

 

It is also curious that the score proper wasn't released in anyway. 

This is actually on the new score album. So it's by Ronson & Wyatt

 

Cue called "Meeting Ruth"

[GerateWohl 4,370]

15 minutes ago, Trope said:

I could not disagree more with your assertion that his music "lacks sophistication" or that the music is too simple or without enough variation to make it interesting. From my listening experience, he is one of the most sophisticated and unique composers working today.

 

Wes Anderson scores aside (which I consider their own music genre anyway), Desplat has written some of the most beautifully crafted, subtle and sophisticated scores of the last 2 decades. I'm not sure what scores you browsed to form your opinion, but never has it crossed my mind that he doesn't know how to vary or develop musical material. Don't mistake simplicity and clarity of expression with a lack of sophistication. His knack for melody, harmony and orchestration all clearly prove that he knows what he is doing as regards musical construction.

 

Check out (if you haven't already) his scores for Harry Potter, The Imitation Game, Little Women, Pinocchio, Secret Life of Pets, Tree of Life, and even Valerian. 

 

As a side note, do you have similar impressions of Dario Marianelli? I consider Desplat and Marianelli to be some of the finest composers working in films today and find they each have unique European sensibilities in their music.

Thank you! That is exactly the discussion I was heading for.  The scores I was checking were Midnight Sky (nice main theme), Valerian, The Painted Veil and The Shape of Water and some tracks of his Wes Anderson Work. And I own the album of Girl with the Pearl Earring.

 

And yes, Marianelli is for me one of the greats today, even though I find about half of his scores super great and the other half super boring. If for him I would have dipped just into the wrong ones, I probably would have come to the same result as for Desplat.

 

Thank you for the recommendations. I will keep looking.

[D_nev 89]

4 hours ago, JNHFan2000 said:

This is actually on the new score album. So it's by Ronson & Wyatt

 

Cue called "Meeting Ruth"

Wonderful! It is nice to hear the piece in full fidelity. 

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

On 25/05/2023 at 1:11 PM, DangerMotif said:

Heard from someone who was at a test screening that the movie wasn’t good. I think it’s still doing reshoots and they had to change a lot

They must have reshot it pretty well considering how's it doing critically/box office wise!

[Mr. Who 919]

I wonder if Desplat had recorded anything when he was replaced. Wold be very interesting to hear what he came up with.

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,544]

It worked, for THE MONUMENTS MEN 

[Mr. Who 919]

4 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

It worked, for THE MONUMENTS MEN 

This was a fun moment in the cinema when I noticed that Desplat was on screen! Very funny cameo!

[Brónach 1,302]

i guess he didn't have a lens flare on his face?

[mrbellamy 6,287]

Desplat was surprisingly not bad in Monuments Men considering it was a mildly dramatic role, a little bonding time with Damon's character lol. I don't think anybody watching it would have thought twice that he wasn't just some character actor. Kinda cool that Clooney saw that in him. 

[Bayesian 1,363]

5 hours ago, mrbellamy said:

Desplat was surprisingly not bad in Monuments Men considering it was a mildly dramatic role, a little bonding time with Damon's character lol. I don't think anybody watching it would have thought twice that he wasn't just some character actor. Kinda cool that Clooney saw that in him. 

Holy moly, I never knew Desplat had a cameo in that movie (or any movie)! I've never seen Monuments Men, but it's on my watchlist now.

[Thor 7,512]

5 hours ago, mrbellamy said:

Desplat was surprisingly not bad in Monuments Men considering it was a mildly dramatic role, a little bonding time with Damon's character lol. I don't think anybody watching it would have thought twice that he wasn't just some character actor. Kinda cool that Clooney saw that in him. 

 

He, he. Yeah, that was cute. Quite a big role too, for a film composer cameo, a bit like Badalamenti in LOST HIGHWAY.

[Mr. Who 919]

4 hours ago, Bayesian said:

Holy moly, I never knew Desplat had a cameo in that movie (or any movie)! I've never seen Monuments Men, but it's on my watchlist now.

He is good in it! And I love the score!

[DangerMotif 1,038]

https://x.com/alexritman/status/1697591282762166410?s=46
 

looks like we’re getting more Desplat music this month 

[DangerMotif 1,038]

No mention of Desplat in the Henry Sugar credits

[Jurassic Shark 12,079]

On 03/08/2023 at 1:02 PM, GerateWohl said:

I recently dipped into the one or the other Desplat score on Spotify and my summery is, that his scores are full of nice melodies, beautiful harmonies but lacking sophistication (for example letting piano melody and strings play unisono), and there is not so much variation in the material, that would make it interesting for me as a listener of the whole work. Even though "River Waltz" from The Painted Veil is a beautiful piece.

 

Anybody else the issue with Desplat, in the end somehow a little too simple to really enflame you?

 

I think this is a fitting description of many of his scores, but not all.

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

 

[Chewy 2,391]

Single from the NYAD score composed by Desplat: https://www.qobuz.com/nz-en/album/florida-from-the-netflix-film-nyad-alexandre-desplat/y9lf5j83146tc

[Will 2,215]

Beautiful! Its quiet determination reminds me of Unbroken (although as one would expect this is a bit brighter in tone).

[Chewy 2,391]

Album from the NYAD score available on Friday: https://www.qobuz.com/nz-en/album/o2ko44ezt8k8a !

[DangerMotif 1,038]

I saw The Boys In The Boat. A nice return to form for Desplat, with a lovely main title/ end credits that reminded me of Little Women. Hard to tell what music was on the racing scenes because the mix wasn’t great.

[Thor 7,512]

Interestingly, I just had a journey through all of Desplat's entire career to see if I've missed out on something. As some of you may know, I don't like Desplat much. I find his "schtick" tiresome, i.e. the endless rolling, quirky ostinati that run through all of his work. Extremely transparent and simplistic. How Wiliams and STAR WARS got him into film music is beyond me; his music (usually) sounds nothing like it. But now and then, on rare occasions, he impresses with long melody lines and sophisticated orchestrations.

 

The end result of the journey was only one addition to my collection, THE KING'S SPEECH. From before, I had GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING, THE PAINTED VEIL and L'ENNEMI INTIME, all of which I really like.

 

I also created a list of "potentials", i.e. titles that I kinda liked, but not enough to acquire them. At least not yet. But I'm willing to give them another chance. These titles are:

 

HOSTAGE
LARGO WINCH
AFTERWARDS
LA FILLE DU PUISATIER
TREE OF LIFE
ARGO
THE MONUMENT'S MEN

 

Time will tell if they "make it".

[GerateWohl 4,370]

Still I would like to hear his rejected Rogue One score. 

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

I think Argo & Monumemts Men are great!

 

Not a fan of Tree Of Life

[Trope 527]

5 hours ago, Thor said:

Interestingly, I just had a journey through all of Desplat's entire career to see if I've missed out on something. As some of you may know, I don't like Desplat much. I find his "schtick" tiresome, i.e. the endless rolling, quirky ostinati that run through all of his work. Extremely transparent and simplistic. How Wiliams and STAR WARS got him into film music is beyond me; his music (usually) sounds nothing like it. But now and then, on rare occasions, he impresses with long melody lines and sophisticated orchestrations.

 

The end result of the journey was only one addition to my collection, THE KING'S SPEECH. From before, I had GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING, THE PAINTED VEIL and L'ENNEMI INTIME, all of which I really like.

 

I also created a list of "potentials", i.e. titles that I kinda liked, but not enough to acquire them. At least not yet. But I'm willing to give them another chance. These titles are:

 

HOSTAGE
LARGO WINCH
AFTERWARDS
LA FILLE DU PUISATIER
TREE OF LIFE
ARGO
THE MONUMENT'S MEN

 

Time will tell if they "make it".

Good on you for making your way through his catalogue, something I hope to do in more depth soon (I haven’t heard a lot of his earliest works). Even though I don’t share your opinion of Desplat’s music at all, I respect anyone who does a genuine deep dive into a composer they don’t like in order to see if there’s any hidden treasure in their library. I’ve been doing a similar thing with Goldsmith. I can’t say I love his work or style/s on the whole, but I have come across some scores/tracks that I think are excellent which I wouldn’t have otherwise found.

 

Out of curiosity, what do you think of Desplat’s scores for Harry Potter, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, and The Secret Life of Pets?

[bruce marshall 1,315]

For Thor:

- THE IMITATION GAME

-RISE OF THE GUARDIANS

-THE GHOST WRITER😊

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

7 hours ago, bruce marshall said:

-RISE OF THE GUARDIANS

 

 

To be honest, this is in my opinion his best score and it's widely underrated and unnotticed. It's one of the best score of any Dreamworks film.

 

The film itself is also very underrated. But yeah, this has Desplat's quirky rhythms and trademarks, but is much more approachable because of the action music. I wish he'd get to do something like this again. 

People always say that his SW score would've sounded like Valerian, but in my head, it's more like this. So much fun!

[Thor 7,512]

I don't care for THE IMITATION GAME (even if it's directed by a Norwegian) or RISE OF THE GUARDIANS.

 

I think THE GHOST WRITER works great in the film itself. For once, Desplat's "cloppetyclop" style works, as if fingers on a typewriter. The film is also beautifully and sparsely spotted. But I don't care for it on album.

 

In my walkthrough, I had high hopes for the early Audiard collabs, as I remembered them as pretty good. Alas, it was less engaging than I had remembered (and of course, the idiotic decision on those French soundtracks to include dialogue intervowen with the score).

[GerateWohl 4,370]

No sympathy anyone for The Shape of Water? It reminds a little of Jan Tiersen's Amelie in style or Howard Shore's Hugo. But didn't Desplat even get an academy award for that score?

[Thor 7,512]

Can't really hear any AMELIE (a score I adore!) in SHAPE, I'm afraid. That one didn't do much for me either. Desplat can be so static sometimes.

 

That being said, Desplat is on a whole other level for me than my two other "major dislikes", i.e. Giacchino and Göransson. He's more interesting than those. So I really wanted to give him a second chance by listening my way through all of his (released) work. I might consider doing the same for the other two gentlemen too, but that will be down the road. I like giving people second chances, even if it may reaffirm my initial assessment.

[Will 2,215]

On 23/11/2023 at 11:29 PM, DangerMotif said:

I saw The Boys In The Boat. A nice return to form for Desplat, with a lovely main title/ end credits that reminded me of Little Women. Hard to tell what music was on the racing scenes because the mix wasn’t great.

 

This is wonderful to hear. Little Women is my all-time favorite Desplat score.

[Chewy 2,391]

The soundtrack album for "The Boys in the Boat" will be available digitally on December 15: https://www.qobuz.com/nz-en/album/z0scs2lqptgla

 

First track available tomorrow!

[Will 2,215]

Very excited for this. Track list has some nice long cues!

[JTN 2,030]

On 24/11/2023 at 6:24 PM, Thor said:

Interestingly, I just had a journey through all of Desplat's entire career to see if I've missed out on something. As some of you may know, I don't like Desplat much. I find his "schtick" tiresome, i.e. the endless rolling, quirky ostinati that run through all of his work. Extremely transparent and simplistic. How Wiliams and STAR WARS got him into film music is beyond me; his music (usually) sounds nothing like it. But now and then, on rare occasions, he impresses with long melody lines and sophisticated orchestrations.

 

The end result of the journey was only one addition to my collection, THE KING'S SPEECH. From before, I had GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING, THE PAINTED VEIL and L'ENNEMI INTIME, all of which I really like.

 

I also created a list of "potentials", i.e. titles that I kinda liked, but not enough to acquire them. At least not yet. But I'm willing to give them another chance. These titles are:

 

HOSTAGE
LARGO WINCH
AFTERWARDS
LA FILLE DU PUISATIER
TREE OF LIFE
ARGO
THE MONUMENT'S MEN

 

Time will tell if they "make it".

My most listened to Desplat score is THE IMITATION GAME. 
 

- Not Karol, not Erik -

 

On 25/11/2023 at 7:32 PM, Thor said:

I like giving people second chances, even if it may reaffirm my initial assessment.

That’s something typically a Scandinavian would say. No wonder Norway is one of the happiest countries in the world. Your optimism is enviable.

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

Has anyone here ever listened to Desplat 2 score for the French films Largo Winch?

 

I came across those yesterday and they're an absolute hoot! It's like if Desplat score Bond or M:I. Really fun and I would recommend them

[Jay 37,369]

Yeah they are good

[Thor 7,512]

LARGO WINCH is decent. It's on my list of Desplat scores I'm going to give another chance after my recent walkthrough of his career.

[fommes 153]

Largo Winch is absolutely top drawer Desplat. The themes are brilliant and memorable, woven throughout the scores in many variations, the Eastern Europe flavour also works well, and along with The Golden Compass it has some of the best action cues of his career ("Roof Fight"!).

[crocodile 8,017]

Of his action/thriller scores, my absolute favourite is Hostage. The CD has been out of print for ages and the score is absent from streaming services but here is a small taste:

 

 

And yes @fommes TGC is still among his finest.

 

Karol

[GerateWohl 4,370]

Dipped into Largo Winch and at first glance for me it is a little too much Bond without actually being Bond. But I don't know...

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

I still think the best action music of Desplat's career is in Rise Of The Guardians. Also probably my favorite score of his.

 

This cue "Jack & Sandman" is phenomenal!

Especially the part between 1:47 and 3:48.

 

 

[toothless 964]

On 25/1/2024 at 6:07 PM, Thor said:

LARGO WINCH is decent. It's on my list of Desplat scores I'm going to give another chance after my recent walkthrough of his career.

 

BTW do we know if Desplat will score Largo Winch 3 ? 

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

 

[toothless 964]