15 Greatest Film Scores of All-Time

The Fountain (Clint Mansell)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyqNhArAPjY Whenever I think about Clint Mansell I picture him walking along a promenade hand in hand with Darren Aronofsky, a flourishing relationship which pleasingly shows no signs of ever falling apart. The kind of couple whom constantly get the €˜oh they look so good together€™ comments from everyone around them. And rightly so, since Pi, Mansell has been a constant in Aronofsky€™s directing career. And if Pi can be considered their first date and Requiem for a Dream perhapstheir first powerful foray into the bedroom then, The Fountain is that date where everything is comfortable and their finally ready to make their relationship official. The Fountain is probably Mansell€™s most challenging score to date. With Aronofsky€™s narrative spanning over 3 different storylines and time periods, Mansell had the challenge to create a score which flows throughout the narrative leaps of time and space which have no chronological rules. He succeeds beautifully utilising the talents of Scottish post rock and the San Francisco based Kronos quartet to create a score which seems so organically and intrinsically connected to the body of a film. The beauty lies in the connection to the films theme of life and its frailties, a search for the cure of inevitable death and an acceptance that death is preordained. Thus Mansell€™s score lives and breathes like a human body, the seeds of life are sown in its beginning and as the score and film reaches its climax with €˜Death is the Road to Awe€™ the images and score combine to powerful effect. It is difficult to accept the death of a loved one and the score displays this with a powerful zenith of string and piano filled with anguish and despair as he realisation of death comes to fruition. And yet as the film plays out to the tenderness of €˜Together We Shall Live Forever€™ you get the audible equivalent of the term "laid to rest", the acceptance of her passing. It is an exquisite and profound entry into the afterlife. Given that the score was composed concurrently with the production makes Mansell€™s achievements all the more technically brilliant. The score's mood flourishes within the confines of the narrative and beyond. It€™s hard to believe that the man behind this score was also the lead singer in 80€™s British rock band Pop Will Eat Itself. Or the fact that Mansell has composed for 2 Dwayne €˜The Rock€™ Johnson films. 2! I remain in denial. Dan Lewis