Over the final few months of the year, as the Oscar season starts to heat up and frontrunners emerge from the pack, certain arthouse films find themselves as hyped as any Hollywood blockbuster. Such is certainly the case with Pablo Larrain‘s “Spencer.” The Kristen Stewart-led Princess Diana biopic has won hearts during each of its festival appearances; throw in a beloved composer like Jonny Greenwood and it’s no surprise that even the soundtrack is enough to generate buzz in certain circles.
So go take exactly three minutes and 37 seconds to listen to “Crucifix,” the first track from the “Spencer” album. We’ll be here when you’re done.
In his work on films like “There Will Be Blood” and “You Were Never Really Here,” the Radiohead guitarist-slash-film composer has established himself as a genuine co-creator alongside directors like Paul Thomas Anderson and Lynne Ramsay. These scores form a symbiotic relationship with the direction and performance; if you were to remove the soundtrack from the images, or the images from the soundtrack, you might be left with something lifeless and inert. Much is the same with “Spencer.” In her review for the film, The Playlist critic Jessica Kiang noted that Greenwood’s score should be regarded as an early Oscar frontrunner, making note of the way the music and Kristen Stewart‘s performance work in beautiful harmony.
And while those accustomed to Greenwood’s abstract instrumentation and melodies in his other scores may be a bit surprised by the more traditional compositions found in “Spencer,” rest assured that the composer is pushing himself as much as ever. “I suggested we get a baroque orchestra in, so I wrote music in that regular royal style, with kettle drums, trumpets, harpsichords and pipe organs,” the composer told music publication NME back in September. “Then, while they were playing, we substituted the orchestra with free jazz players. They could play those instruments, but we had it mutate into a free jazz performance.” Free jazz mixed with baroque music? Somehow, that sounds like a perfect Jonny Greenwood score to me.
