"The camera and digital effects teams have done their best to bring a sense of wonder to proceedings; trying a little too hard on that front, however, is the redoubtable composer Alexandre Desplat, whose ornate but frankly overbearing score leaves no emotional response to chance. Cousteau may have christened the sapphire depths “The Silent World” in his Oscar-winning documentary of that name, but Desplat’s relentlessly keening strings have other ideas entirely." - http://variety.com/2016/film/reviews/the-odyssey-review-1201869310/
"The camera and digital effects teams have done their best to bring a sense of wonder to proceedings; trying a little too hard on that front, however, is the redoubtable composer Alexandre Desplat, whose ornate but frankly overbearing score leaves no emotional response to chance. Cousteau may have christened the sapphire depths “The Silent World” in his Oscar-winning documentary of that name, but Desplat’s relentlessly keening strings have other ideas entirely." - http://variety.com/2016/film/reviews/the-odyssey-review-1201869310/
True. The score is sweeping and has that kind of old fashioned feel of movies about explorers. The main theme resembles of Tom's theme from The Light Between Oceans. Also, Desplat went back to the original mastering sound from his 2003-2010 scores, which seems he now keeps for his French scores. Some parts remind me of Song Of The Sea (and not just because both films deal with the sea, Desplat actually uses the first notes of Coulais's theme on the Horner-esque Autour Du Globe), and it's wonderful to hear more oboe in a work of his (until this year, Desplat rarely used it on his scores).
I really love how diverse Desplat's work for this year has been:
Florence Foster Jenkins (jazzy and light) The Secret Life Of Pets (crazy and fun) The Light Between Oceans (romantic and emotional) L'Odyssee (sweeping and ethreal) American Pastoral (dramatic and intimate)
And we still haven't heard Alone In Berlin and Heal The Living yet.
The last Desplat score I enjoyed was THE IMITATION GAME, so I decided to play on Youtube some more recent scores of his: L'ODYSSEE, THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS and THE DANISH GIRL. Well, there is no denying that the music for these movies sounds beautiful but especially in the case of THE LIGHT.. and THE DANISH GIRL, I must say I found the whole albums to be endless and to some extent downright soporific. The music Desplat writes for such projects is rather quiet, romantic and dominated by piano and orchestra. Astonishingly, even L'ODYSSEE features this formula prominently and I wish he instead would have injected much more original sounds into this score. Still, L'ODYSSEE is by far the one I like the most between these three. I played it twice so far. A small detail: Desplatfan1, I think the oboe sound you spotted is rather performed by the English horn.
OK, I admit this lukewarm judgment of mine is based upon listening only since unlike THE IMITATION GAME I didn't see these movies (I shall see L'ODYSSEE soon though) but I hold Desplat's music for these projects as rather banal and flat. I'd say it's technically well-mastered but it somehow lacks excitement to my ears, both where the tunes and the arrangements are concerned. So many themes seem to be interchangeable and end up being dull as ditchwater. When the records are reaching their end, there is no highlight I can really single out and remember. Sorry Maleficio and Desplatfan1 because I'm aware you think highly of Desplat's style.
For your information, there is yet another Desplat scored movie running in the French theaters now: REPARER LES VIVANTS. Didn't see it but heard the director Katell Quillévéré explaining on the radio that Desplat came up with pieces for solo piano used as interludes.
I kinda share that sentiment. I became a big fan of Desplat 7 or 8 years ago and I still am but the last couple of years there were scores that almost put me to sleep. I'm thinking of 'Suffragette', 'Tale of Tales', 'The Danish Girl' or 'Everything will be fine' and based on the samples 'American Pastoral' seems to be in the same league. Having said that, I think both 'The Light between Oceans' and 'L'Odyssée' reignited my faith in him with the former being especially beautiful almost classical in nature and maybe my favorite score of the year so far. I was so looking forward to his Star Wars score but I guess I'll have to wait for 'Valerian' to hear him 'splash out' again. Still waiting for another 'Rise of the Guardians'-kind-of-thing!
I kinda share that sentiment. I became a big fan of Desplat 7 or 8 years ago and I still am but the last couple of years there were scores that almost put me to sleep. I'm thinking of 'Suffragette', 'Tale of Tales', 'The Danish Girl' or 'Everything will be fine' and based on the samples 'American Pastoral' seems to be in the same league. Having said that, I think both 'The Light between Oceans' and 'L'Odyssée' reignited my faith in him with the former being especially beautiful almost classical in nature and maybe my favorite score of the year so far. I was so looking forward to his Star Wars score but I guess I'll have to wait for 'Valerian' to hear him 'splash out' again. Still waiting for another 'Rise of the Guardians'-kind-of-thing!
Same story here. Became a fan around the same time and love a lot of his work, but some scores are becoming interchangeable. Take the first track of L'Odyssee. It's nice music, typical Desplat, but that's the problem for me. He's written the same stuff many times before. The second track is much better in my opinion.
This score has really grown on me through repeated listens The fact that it maintains its complexity enough to be listened to a dozen times or more is, itself, a big compliment, compared to most of the sonic wallpaper out there that I can barely get through once before exiling it to my storage closet. But this score really is gorgeous, the kind of big canvas European filmmakers give Desplat that he all too rarely finds in US studio films, where he's often just asked to do 30 seconds of pretty music to cover establishing shots and then a bunch of inoffensive background music.
This score has really grown on me through repeated listens The fact that it maintains its complexity enough to be listened to a dozen times or more is, itself, a big compliment, compared to most of the sonic wallpaper out there that I can barely get through once before exiling it to my storage closet. But this score really is gorgeous, the kind of big canvas European filmmakers give Desplat that he all too rarely finds in US studio films, where he's often just asked to do 30 seconds of pretty music to cover establishing shots and then a bunch of inoffensive background music.
This might be my favorite score of 2016.
Two of the highlight cues:
I think it is a wonderful score. When I saw the film the music really grabbed me. It has fantastic melodies, emotions, Desplat in his best-mode. I like The Light Between Oceans from last year but I think L'Odyssee is a better, more enjoyable score. His best in 2016.
