Les ponts entre la musique française et Hollywood se multiplient. Petit état des lieux issu de French Pop, chaque dimanche sur Nova, de et avec Mélanie Bauer
Bonjour et bienvenue dans la French Pop, l’émission qui parle en anglais de la musique française !
La preuve : what is the connection between movies and music in France ? It seems that this link is strong ; french instrumental music is highly respected allover the world, just like french cinema and artists here often use both art forms to express themselves. In this french pop, we’ll explore those links from the 20’s till tomorrow, with Jean-François Rauger of the cinematheque française and the director Nicolas Saada, and to star by tomorows projects…
Do you remember Mr. Oizo, and his yellow puppet named Flat Eric nodding his head to the sound of the track,the electronic hit « Flat Beat » in 1999 ? Yes, a huge hit ; The Flat Beat EP sold over 3 million copies world wide… not so bad for a yellow puppet.
Mr Oizo alias Quentin Dupieux, a famous international director known for his absurd and odd stories… I guess you recall « Rubber« , the story of Robert, an inanimate tire that has been abandoned in the desert and which suddenly and inexplicably comes to life. The music stays electronic, and the sound is now connected to the french electronic label Ed Banger.
The connexion between Quentin Dupieux’s musical background and his work as a movie director is just starting ; he is now releasing « Wrong Cops », just showed at the Sundance festival, in the US, a movie starring Marylin Manson as a young and shy skater, and MarcBurnham and Eric Judor as the wrong cops.
Harder, better, faster, stronger, Quentin Dupieux signed on the ex-Daft Punk manager’s Pedro Winter’s label Ed Banger.
Harder, better, faster, stronger, Daft Punk made the international dream come true by scoring TRON, for Walt Disney Records on December 2010 ! It was such a pride for the french governement that Daft Punk became knights : they were admitted into the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, a famous order of merit of France.
Some other french artists are now stealing the spotlight from the helmet duet… For example, Ludovic Bounce awarded in the US for « The Artist » scored and Alexandre Desplat who received five Academy Award nominations, six BAFTA nominations, six Golden Globe nominations, and two Grammy nominations. Desplat has already worked on lots of famous Hollywood movies, including The Queen, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, New Moon, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2, The King’s Speech, The Tree of Life, Zero Dark Thirty and more…
He is now working for the third time with the american director Wes Anderson’s for « The Grand Budapest Hotel ». What about France ? He did loads in France as well, the very aclaimed « A Prophet », » Largo Winch » and… « My Way », released in France as Cloclo, a biopic of the french singer, songwriter and entertainer Claude François. A bit cheezy but cult in France ; Cloclo’s life from childhood in Egypt through success in France to his untimely death in Paris, in 1978.
When this guy died stupidely in his bathtub, french women commeted suicide and France cried so much that now, more than 30 years after his death, people are still dancing on his songs at weddings and crying his death ! Well, so, we can say Ludovic Bounce and Alexandre Desplat are the new darlings of Hollywood.
On the indie scene, the french band Phoenix is as well very successful in the american movie sphere ; the band leader Thomas Mars is married with Francisco Ford Coppola’s daughter, Sofia Coppola, and did appear in her movies, musically and physically. The band has also said that its work on Sofia Coppola’s film, Somewhere, has been an inspiration for the creation of their new album « Bankrupt« . Another french band is closely linked to Sofia Coppola’s work : Air. The french duet became famous with the « Virgin Suicide » score, and songs like that.
More recentely, Air recorded Melies’ « The trip to the moon » score, a huge succes again.
