Desplat’s Coco Before Chanel

Alexandre Desplat’s score for the film Coco Before Chanel is set for a U.S. release of September 15, 2009.  Pre-orders are now being accepted on the CD label’s web site,  VaraseSarabande.com.

I’m so excited for this film.  Beautiful cinematography, lavish costumes, spoken french, oh la la.  And no composer would be better to set music to this rich and excessive luxurious life of France than Alexandre Desplat.  I’ll be sure to get a copy of this soundtrack.  I can always count on Desplat to take me on a musical journey and this score will be no exception.

The film stars Audrey Tautou as the fashion designer Coco Chanel, and is directed by Anne Fontaine (The Girl from Monaco).  The screenplay is written by Anne Fontaine and Camille Fontaine, with the collaboration of Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons), and is loosely based on the biography L’Irrégulière by author Edmonde Charles-Roux.

Fontaine and Desplat collaborated to reflect Chanel in the music.  Desplat believed Coco Chanel had a “pair of eyes that were very particular in real life.”  And he believed actress Audrey Tautou also carried that characteristic.

“They both have the same gravity and intensity.  She is not just watching.  She’s scrutinizing and really intensively watching.  She’s grabbing a detail, a color, a shape that becomes something of her own once it goes through her filter.  So, I guess that’s the main thing that I tried to do with the score:  always keep the intensity of her character, not just the fun.  She has a lot of courage and a desire to change things.  And that’s something I like a lot – when artists show the way, a different way, another way, not just follow the flow of the river.  My music should follow this.”

I’m sure it does.  Listen to Desplast’s music featured in this U.S. trailer of the film.

Track List:

Coco Before Chanel
Alexandre Desplat
Performed by the London Symphony Orchestra

1. L’abandon (4:06)
2. Chez Chanel (2:33)
3. Coco & Boy (2:47)
4. Royallieu (2:54)
5. Couture (2:27)
6. Avenue du Bois (1:38)
7. Premier baiser (1:40)
8. Gabrielle Bonheur (1:53)
9. L’Hippodrome (2:54)
10. Arthur Capel (2:09)
11. Confession de Balsan (1:26)
12. Coco rêve de Paris (1:31)
13. L’Atelier (1:48)
14. Un seul Amour (1:53)
15. Le Chagrin de Coco (2:59)
16. Casino de Deauville (1:37)
17. Little Black Baby (Scott Joplin) (1:37) Interprété par Vanessa Wagner sur un Piano Ibach de 1908
18. Qui qu’a vu Coco (Baumaine-Blondelet/Deransart) (1:42) Extrait sonore du film, interprété par Audrey Tautou et Marie Gillain Piano: Patrick Laviosa

By the way, the score is already available on iTunes, for those who prefer a digital copy.