Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain
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It seems somehow inappropriate to start a review of a charming score to a lovely film with a rant, but I feel I must. In the UK, the film was rated 15, but anyone who's seen Amélie will know that no child would find anything offensive or corrupting about this movie. It all hinges on one, extremely brief montage of orgasms and a glimpse of a woman giving birth. The result is that the film gets a higher rating than the extremely violent Terminator 3 (which was a 12A over here - shocking given the level and quantity of violence) and in the US, both films received an R. It seems insane that such violence is considered so unexceptional and acceptable for kids to see, yet natural events such as sex and birth are seen as something we should shield from children. Were it not for those scenes, the film would be a PG at most, but I'm sure many younger viewers missed out on a wonderful fairytale as a result. Anyway, enough ranting. The film is, as you might have gathered, marvellous and coming from the director of Alien: Resurrection, a surprising change of pace.

Yann Tierson has contributed to several French films, but it was one of Tierson's other albums that convinced Jeunet to ask him to score the film. In the tradition of Georges Delerue, Tierson contributes what sounds like an amalgam of every score ever written for a film set in Paris. The most important melody is, of course, La Valse D'Amélie which is presented in several versions from the accordion led first incarnation through to a full orchestral, but towards the end appears on piano alone. Many of the other cues are in a similar style, accordion led waltzes, often with witty orchestration that includes a toy piano, carillon, mandolins and other unexpected instruments, often performed by Tierson himself. The orchestra makes a few appearances, but by and large the scale is small. There is a surprising hint of Michael Nyman on a couple of occasions, notably La Noyée and Pas si Simple, where his earlier Greenaway scores are suggested, but all with Tierson's Gallic charm added as standard.

There are a couple of old French songs, complete with crackly gramophone sound which work well alongside the underscore. An honorable mention must go to Les Jours Tristes as it's co-composed with Neil Hannon, from the UK group, The Divine Comedy that Hannon fronts and writes all the songs (or he did until their split, but Hannon is still writing under the band's name and at time of this review, a new album is expected in early 2004). The Nyman influence here is unsurprising as Hannon has often mentioned his love of Nyman's music and many of the band's earlier songs have a strong Nyman sound in their accompaniment. It could be argued that Amélie is a little too similar in tone throughout so if you like one of the waltzes, you'll probably like them all, but if that kind of Parisian style doesn't appeal then Tierson's music will likely fail to generate a positive response. However, as an antidote to Hollywood scoring and a European change of pace, Amélie the score is as lovely as Amélie the film and both are easily recommendable.