A Walk in the Clouds
Silver Screen Edition

By all accounts, A Walk in the Clouds was a light and fluffy romance story which starred the ever dopey Keanu Reeves who pretends to be the husband of a pregnant woman. Of course they end up eventually falling in love properly etc etc. Sounds soppy as hell to me, but it gave Maurice Jarre the chance to write a wonderfully passionate score. It features the kind of romance that you just don't get any more in film music. While it doesn't deviate greatly from his typically broad orchestral approach, the more intimate sections are coloured with some gorgeous acoustic guitar passages.

The main theme is introduced in Victoria and is a fairly prototypical Jarre theme; with lovely harmonies and a slightly unexpected harmonic progression. The rich string and lush brass orchestrations take you immediately to the sunny Napa Valley setting of the film. There is a secondary theme which is very mildly martial, to perhaps echo Reeves' character's status as a soldier. However, most of the variations that it is put through give it a much more joyous and festive sound which serves to beautifully offset the romantic moments. Its best use is in the dance like Harvest cue where it is given its most exuberant and lively performance. Against the cheeriness of the majority of the score, Fire & Destruction is understandably somewhat more anguished and contains some dramatic brass action writing. While romantic scores tend to be dominated by strings, Jarre makes good use of brass throughout. They don't dominate by any means, but are use to produce some glowing brass choir passages that are most effective. Of course it all works out well in the end and the music eventually dissolves into the main themes which are neatly summarised in the final A Walk in the Clouds cue.

The two songs are supposed to sound like traditional wine making songs (or something) and function nicely as such. They neither add nor detract from the rest of the score, although I prefer Jarre's music on its own as a personal preference. While unmistakably Jarre all the way, it could best be described as a more hugely romantic version of Doyle's Much Ado About Nothing. It has the sunny Tuscan warmth of Doyle's effort (albeit it with Spanish overtones) and plenty of the same romantic charm. While it would be hard to put down as Jarre's finest achievement it is certainly one of my personal favourites. There are plenty of sentimental and heart felt romantic scores by contemporary composers, but A Walk in the Clouds has the hugely assured confidence and genuine emotion of an experienced and hugely talented composer.