May December (Soundtrack from the Netflix Film) is the soundtrack to the 2023 film of the same name directed by Todd Haynes. The film is scored by Marcelo Zarvos who adapted late Michel Legrand's compositions from The Go-Between (1971),[1] while also scoring original tunes. The score was released by Netflix Music on December 1, 2023.
| May December (Soundtrack from the Netflix Film) | ||||
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| Film score by | ||||
| Released | December 1, 2023 | |||
| Genre | Film score | |||
| Length | 20:45 | |||
| Label | Netflix Music | |||
| Producer | Marcelo Zarvos | |||
| Marcelo Zarvos chronology | ||||
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| Michel Legrand chronology | ||||
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Development
editMay December is scored by Marcelo Zarvos, who previously collaborated with Haynes on Dark Waters (2019).[2] Zarvos adapted and reorchestrated the music from Legrand's The Go-Between and alternatively composed melodies in piano.[3][4] According to Haynes, "the score sits so upfront and ahead of and beyond the ultimate events that unfold in that particular storyline" where the audiences be alert of an incident happening, and then read the details in the frame and the performances acutely, in every single moment. The music reenforces that in a mischievous sense, where this can be a pleasurable inquisition.[5]
Haynes initially thought of the music while reading the script and regularly played the score from that film in both the filming and editing process, attempting the film's need to give the audience that kind of invitation and employ the emotional effect throughout, in scenes that lacked dialogues. While supervising the edit, he shared the cues from the score to Zarvos which he felt excited and used many aspects of the music that he had adapted and added original music to it and re-orchestrated it. This even served as a metaphor for the film.[5]
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Opening" | Michel Legrand | 1:14 |
| 2. | "Elizabeth Drives" | Marcelo Zarvos | 1:56 |
| 3. | "Studying Gracie" | Legrand | 1:54 |
| 4. | "Butterfly Eggs" | Legrand | 1:37 |
| 5. | "Elizabeth Meets Ex" | Legrand | 0:57 |
| 6. | "Storage Room" | Zarvos | 1:06 |
| 7. | "Old Photos" | Legrand | 0:36 |
| 8. | "Joe and Father Talk" | Zarvos | 0:38 |
| 9. | "School Visit" | Zarvos | 0:51 |
| 10. | "Graduation" | Legrand | 2:18 |
| 11. | "Gracie Cries" | Zarvos | 1:36 |
| 12. | "Mirror Images" | Legrand | 0:47 |
| 13. | "Joe Showers" | Legrand | 1:12 |
| 14. | "Dropping Off Mary" | Zarvos | 0:58 |
| 15. | "The Letter" | Zarvos | 0:32 |
| 16. | "Elizabeth On Set" | Legrand | 2:33 |
| Total length: | 20:45 | ||
Reception
editBilge Ebiri of Variety described the music "dramatic" that announces the "ridiculous tonal shifts this seemingly placid film will take".[1] Farah Cheded of Paste and Shirley Li of The Atlantic described it as "histrionic" and "discordant",[6][7] while Wendy Ide of The Observer called it as "deliciously overwrought" score that "brings with it a frisson of illicit passions".[8] Sean Collier of Pittsburgh Magazine called it as a "hyperactive, daytime-movie style score [...] highlights the incongruity".[9] Justin Chang of Los Angeles Times said that Zarvos "offers a lush reworking of Michel Legrand's score from the 1971 romantic drama 'The Go-Between'."[10]
References
edit- ^ a b Ebiri, Bilge (May 21, 2023). "Todd Haynes's May December Is a Deeply Uncomfortable Movie". Vulture. Archived from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
The score, by Marcelo Zarvos, is actually an adaptation and reorchestration of Michel Legrand's music for Joseph Losey's 1971 forbidden-romance drama The Go-Between.
- ^ Corbel, Kévin (May 20, 2023). "Questioning the past with May December, from Todd Haynes". Festival de Cannes. Archived from the original on May 22, 2023. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
- ^ Lattanzio, Ryan (November 15, 2023). "Todd Haynes Didn't Quite Get the 'Camp' Label for His Melodrama 'May December' Out of Cannes — at First". IndieWire. Archived from the original on November 19, 2023. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
- ^ "Composer Marcelo Zarvos Brings Variety to Film Scoring From The Equalizer 3 to Todd Haynes' May December". Below the Line. October 11, 2023. Archived from the original on December 3, 2023. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
- ^ a b "How Todd Haynes' May December channeled Mary Kay Letourneau and classic female melodramas". Entertainment Weekly. September 26, 2023. Archived from the original on November 17, 2023. Retrieved December 1, 2023.
- ^ "Age-Gap Melodrama May December Pulls Off an Audacious Clash of Style and Substance". Paste Magazine. Archived from the original on December 3, 2023. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
- ^ Li, Shirley (December 1, 2023). ""May December" Exposes the Art of Self-Deception". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on December 2, 2023. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
- ^ Ide, Wendy (November 18, 2023). "May December review – wildly enjoyable Todd Haynes melodrama". The Guardian. ISSN 0029-7712. Archived from the original on November 20, 2023. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
- ^ Collier, Sean (November 28, 2023). "Movie Review: May December". Pittsburgh Magazine. Archived from the original on December 2, 2023. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
- ^ "'May December' is a slippery, superbly acted tour de force". Los Angeles Times. November 16, 2023. Archived from the original on November 27, 2023. Retrieved December 3, 2023.