On the occasion of the 75th Cannes Film Festival, we invite you to take you to the dark rooms for a show on May 28 dedicated to the films that won the Palme d’Or at Cannes.
In 1967, blow up caused a scandal because for the first time we saw the bodies of naked women
This program is devoted to music from films that won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. The first edition of the Festival took place in 1946 but it is only since 1955 that the Palme d’Or has been awarded to the winner of the Cannes selection. We then begin with the Aquarium theme taken from the animal carnival of Saint-Saens who resounds each year on the steps of the Palais des Festivals before each film screening during the Cannes Film Festival:
In 1949, Carol Reed will win the Grand Prix for The Third Man. A film in which Orson Welles plays and whose action, full of twists, takes place in Vienna. The music of this film is performed on the zither by Anton Karas, the composer. This film which shows Vienna in the aftermath of the 2nd World War, and its music ranked for weeks among the best American record sellers.
7 years later, in 1956, Louis Malle and Commander Cousteau revolutionized documentaries with The world of silence. The music of this ecological documentary before its time was composed by Yves Baudrier:
In 1959 Marcel Camus realizes, Orfeu Negro, a musical film that transposes the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice to Rio in Brazil during the carnival. He won the Palme d’or with an original score by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luiz Bonfà. Listen to Itzhak Perlman’s violin performance with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the direction of John Williams who knows a thing or two about film music:
Umbrellas of Cherbourg by Jacques Demy won the Palme in 1964 with music by Michel Legrand: triumph and reward! The Flemish Radio orchestra interpreted the theme of the film under the direction of its composer who died in 2019:
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2 years later, a young filmmaker is turning the heads of festival-goers with an extraordinary way of filming and rhythm. Claude Lelouch has his own style and wins with A man and a woman the Palme d’Or in 1966. As for the music, it is as unforgettable as the film and its actors, Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant. The famous song, namesake of the film, is signed Francis Lai and was made famous by its lyrics in a series of onomatopoeias, Chabadabada, chabadabada. This music won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song:
In 1967, the movie Blow Up by Michelangelo Antonioni tells a love story that turns into a thriller. A man photographs a woman in a park in London but the enlarged photos reveal that he unknowingly photographed a crime scene. Herbie Hancock signs the music. This film caused a scandal when it was released because for the first time we saw completely naked women’s bodies:
In 2000, the singer Björk plays and composes the music of Dancer in the Dark
Francis Ford Coppola, in 1979, received the Palme d’or for the film Apocalypse Now adaptation of the novel In the heart of darkness by Joseph Conrad. One of the most famous scenes is the attack on a village by a squadron of helicopters commanded by a surf-mad officer played by Robert Duvall. Rising from the horizon, the machines melt towards the beach on the music of Richard Wagner and the air of The Valkyrie :
all that jazzBob Fosse’s film has become in French ” Let the show begin “. all that jazz tells the story of a choreographer addicted to amphetamines and tobacco who suffers a heart attack while putting on a new Broadway revue. The music is by Ralph Burns but also George Benson and the film won an award in 1980. A Palme d’or tied with the film byAkira Kurosawa, Kagemusha, Warrior’s Shadow:
4 years later, it’s Nastassja Kinski who makes the Croisette cry in the final scene of ParisTexas by Wim Wenders. Slowness, sun, loneliness, wide open spaces and Ry Cooder for the music:
eternity and a day will win at Cannes in 1998. This film is by Theo Angelopoulos and the music is by Eléni Karaïndrou. A work that recounts the nostalgic memories and last days of a writer who feels the end of his life is coming and remembers the best moments:
In 2000 it is Dancer in the Dark which is awarded. Spectators discover the singer Bjork, who plays and composes the film’s music, alongside Catherine Deneuve in an extraordinary musical drama directed by the brilliant Lars von Trier:
We end with Love by Michael Haneke in 2012. Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant play an aging couple that illness will not separate. The music heard at the beginning of the film is that of a concert by Alexandre Tharaud who performs theImpromptu #3 by Franz Schubert:
We hope that this selection has made you want to rush to the theaters, to go for a walk in Cannes, to see these cinematic masterpieces again, to see the 5 films to see when you love classical music, or to imagine the ideal cast to play the greatest composers!
David Abiker
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Cannes 2022: David Abiker pays tribute in music to the winners of the Palme d’Or