When “Bring the Accused” appears in the film’s soundtrack

Enter the movie – Todd Haynes. American filmmaker, to whom we are indebted Carol Or Dark Watersreturns to theaters this Wednesday, January 24 with his new film, May December. And exploring the feature film starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, the viewer can’t help but be disturbed by the choice of soundtrack which is surprising to say the least.

From the opening credits, and then several times in different scenes of the film, the same notes resonate: from them Let the accused enterCult show that traces major criminal cases, broadcast for 20 years on France 2 (and for 3 years RMC story).

We weren’t the only ones surprised when we discovered the film at the last Cannes Film Festival: in the screening room we were in, there were laughs every time we saw it, and other critics confessed that they got it. “Weird and Disturbed”. It’s a safe bet that this scene will be repeated in cinemas these days.

Obviously, it is not to Christophe Hondelet that we owe this composition, which is in fact a cover of a less famous cinema theme written by the French artist. It is in fact “A reworked and repeated score of the messenger, by Joseph Losey, was signed by Michel Legrand in his time. Great music, with poignant and unforgettable chords, put in the service of a no less magnificent film (Palm d’Or at Cannes in 1971). », recalls the critic of the world Jacques Mandelbaum.

A fan of David Bowie, Bob Dylan or The Velvet Underground (he dedicated a documentary to them in 2021), Todd Haynes is a true music lover, and always gives music a huge place in his films. In a lengthy interview that aired on Fip last May, the filmmaker explained how much he was blown away by Michel Legrand’s music. the messenger.

“It is a very beautiful film, But above all I was blown away by the soundtrack. I told myself that it was very interesting music for the film.”he says. “So I took that music and added it to the script (May to December) Scene by scene, it’s as if Michel Legrand were to compose an entire soundtrack with this music. And we realized how much the film depends on this music. We finally got the rights to use it three weeks before the film was finished. »

So that goes for Michel Legrand’s voice – and not his credit Let the accused enter, Todd Haynes apparently never saw – that we follow Natalie Portman as Elizabeth, a famous actress who comes to meet the woman she will play on screen. Gracie, played by Julianne Moore, made the front pages of the tabloids 20 years ago as she had an illicit pedophile affair with a 13-year-old boy.

The teenager has grown up (see Charles Melton, in Riverdale), the couple held on and had children, but Gracie is still on the public sex offender’s file, and is hated by those who have not forgotten her story.

Todd Haynes explains it May December This is for movies “One who asks questions and debates moral dilemmas. That’s important in cinema” But “It’s getting harder and harder to make films like this”. But unfortunately more than the moral dilemma, it’s the soundtrack that we’ll especially remember from this somewhat flat film and not one of our favorite films of the week.

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