Maurice Jarre: A man with eyes AND a face

Jessica — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 22:24:15 +0000

I recently watched Georges Franju’s Les yeux sans visage (Eyes Without a Face, for the less pretentious of us), and was immediately captivated by the music in the film. Maurice Jarre, the famed composer of the Lawrence of Arabia score, perfectly accentuates the skin-crawliness of this film. There are two main treatments of music in Les yeux: one, a forlorn lullaby, the other, a demented carnival waltz.

That Michael Myers is so dreamy…

The aforementioned lullaby can be heard in the track “Thème Romantique”. Jarre flawlessly portrays Christiane’s melancholy; her longing for the perfect face she once had. The theme feels distantly hopeful, yet contains just enough dissonance to inform the audience of the futility of Christiane’s wish.

The other theme that really stuck with me is the title track for the film. It is astoundingly eerie and uneasy. A similar sentiment can be heard in the “Valse poursuite” theme, heard at the beginning of this trailer:

(Edit: the title track can be heard around 2:30 of this trailer also)

The chromaticism in the music is reflective of Julius Fučík’s “Entrance of the Gladiators”, the archetypal circus music.

Jarre twists the carnival-like theme, creating an uneasiness in the listener that is more than befitting of the dementia Les yeux portrays.

I loved this film and thought Jarre’s music was impeccable. More than anything, though, watching the flick really made me want to watch Face/Off, which I’m certain was influenced by Les yeux. I give the score (and film) a 17/17 on the Sitzman scale, which I can only use if I would have otherwise rated it 10/10…because I don’t get the Sitz-o-meter. It’s too stressful for me.

Cinematic Attic » Eyes Without a Face

Maurice Jarre: A man with eyes AND a face