Alexandre Desplat sounds very much like a prodigy since he started playing piano at a young age and never appeared to deviate from what he wanted to do in life since his ear for music never went away or diminished throughout his career thus far. He’s been involved in many very popular and insightful movies throughout his career and has been an award-winning composer for some time now. It’s very easy to overlook anyone that’s not well known or on the screen while the movie is running but it’s very easy to listen and hear the contributions that composers can make to the movie since it tends to be by their doing that are palms get sweaty, our breathing intensifies, and we begin to wonder just how the story will play out. Of course the whimsy that movies offer and the thrill are also in the hands of the composers since the right music, properly applied, can do wonders for just about any movie given that it will contribute heavily to its character and its overall effect on the audience.
Here are the five best scores that Alexandre has composed throughout his career.
5. The King’s Speech
Leaders have to portray strength, both of character and of will, or their rule tends to be very short and not all that well-respected. When Bertie is forced to take his place as the next king of England it’s with a great deal of trepidation as he has a stutter that could very well expose him as a less than confident individual that might not be seen as fit for his position. With speech therapist Lionel Logue however he is able to finally stop stuttering and speak normally as Lionel continually drills him over how easy it is when he stops forcing himself to concentrate and just focuses on what lies ahead of him. The music here is whimsical in a way as is the movie, which is perfect since despite the serious nature of the picture it does break up any tension that might arise.
4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2
There had to be a real sense of things changing, the darkness enfolding the scene, and of the desperation that those who resisted faced when attempting to subvert the power of the dark lord, and it came off beautifully. When it started the Harry Potter series was more of a kid-friendly movie, though even despite the lack of any real gore or disturbing violence, this movie was obviously a bit more aggressive than the others. The necessity of this of course was to show that the war was a very real and quite vicious event that didn’t discriminate when it came to age or sex, it was bound to envelop anyone and everyone it could in order to reach its final scene.
3. Zero Dark Thirty
There were a lot of moving parts to this movie and the music had to convey that and a sense of very serious and real danger that went into the planning of the mission that was carried out. This is something that people still debate to this day no matter that many would agree that the end result was very much needed and did more good than harm since a human being that would wipe out others based on anything other than the need for survival is typically someone that is not willing to live and let live. Others might have a different opinion, but there were many that saw this movie as necessary, as much as the mission in fact.
2. The Grand Budapest Hotel
It’s amazing how a story can start, run its course, and then end on a note that leaves one wistful and wanting more, even if there is plenty to give but no one that will listen. The Grand Budapest Hotel is a story of perseverance and deceit on a level that is in a way kind of a mark of the era in which it was set, but it’s also a story that is just gripping enough to take hold and not let go until the entire thing has been told in a manner that a patient audience member can agree is enticing enough to remember. In a very sly way this story is one that a person can’t help but think is one among many that has more layers to it than we were given.
1. The Imitation Game
It’s difficult to get to know geniuses sometimes as several of them are, as it’s been seen in movies and in real life, hard to deal with on a social level as their skills range towards the more academic aspects of life which tend to consume them more often than not. It’s about the same in this movie but the main character is still one that manages to create some sympathy since he’s a complicated man, but he’s still someone that desires what is so hard to find.
Alexandre is talented beyond any doubt, as his music shows.
