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.
That’s some unhinged music perfect for a horror movie. Very informative; never knew the title of the circus march, or that it was a march.
Want to see this movie but if the subtitles are anything like your links than I might have second thoughts (they get bleached out at times).
Hilarious caption. She does look like Michael Myers. If i didn’t know the origin of the mask, I would say so for sure. This had to be an influence on Cartpenter, though.
I’m a big of the Billy Idol song of the same name are you?
Yeah, the subtitles are a little funny in that trailer. I didn’t notice it in the movie, I think they are yellow maybe in the actual film. I can’t really remember.
Yeah, I do like the Billy Idol song! I was recently telling Djake that it’s one of Idol’s few songs that I’m not sick of. I’m not knocking Billy Idol, I just don’t think I can hear “Rebel Yell” or “White Wedding” anymore. I’m way beyond the quota.
Nice post, Jessica, despite your disparaging remarks regarding the Sitzman scale (hey, if you want, feel free to use the standard 1-10 scale… if you want to lose a bit of subtlety, nuance, and grace in your ratings!)
Like you guys, I also thought of the Billy Idol song, but I don’t really like Idol that much. I think I’ll have to check out this movie, though, so at least I can associate the phrase “Eyes Without a Face” with something more positive than Billy Idol.