Sylvia

Unlike biopics of painters, films devoted to the lives of writers don't always seem to inspire the best in composers, as evidenced with Philip Glass' somewhat tedious effort for The Hours, although James Horner managed some nice moments with his score to Iris. Sylvia Plath was one of the 20th century's most celebrated poets, but, perhaps unfortunately, became entangled with the even more famous Ted Hughes, best known for his story, The Iron Man (turned into the superb Iron Giant animated feature). It seems unsurprising that a couple in a similar artistic field might have problems through professional jealousy and competition, but this reached a head for Plath and she took her own life. Naturally, such a depressing and tragic life is liable to result in a movie of equal misery and thus the score, however for all its melancholy, Gabriel Yared's score is quite fetching.

Opening introduces the memorable main theme over a bed of chopping strings, the result is a sombre alternate on any number of Rachel Portman tunes, but the edgy melancholy has more depth than most of Portman's overtly perky melodies. The theme doesn't dominate the score too much, indeed the momentum it creates is a little much for a fairly wordy film such as this. Unsurprisingly, the orchestral forces are largely limited to strings, woodwind and piano, with little in the way of cheeriness. However, unlike Philip Glass, Yared keeps the textures fairly light, with just the occasional moment when the density and intensity increase. Moments of high drama are easy to spot, Seeds of Doubt being a case in point where the writing simply increases until the final chord cuts out in a high point of dissonance. The result is effective, but disturbing.

By the end, things start to feel a little repetitive and the score's depressing outlook becomes a little hard to take. The variation through the first tracks in terms of tempo and mood slowly gives way to a more plodding sobriety and even when it threatens to push into something a touch lighter, the melancholy soon swoops in to push the music back on track. Not a score for the faint hearted or the easily depressed and despite some fine playing by the featured soloists, a score that's difficult to enjoy, even if it is a largely well written and often engaging. Someone pass the valium.