Cat. No.: 170 8418
Barcode: 0602517084186
Label: Verve 2CD
Release Date:
18 November

 

SOUNDTRACK | Marie Antoinette

 

TRACK LISTING

Disc 1

1. "Hong Kong Garden" - Siouxsie & The Banshees

2. "Aphrodisiac" - Bow Wow Wow

3. "What Ever Happened" - The Strokes

4. "Pulling Our Weight" - The Radio Dept.

5. "Ceremony" - New Order

6. "Natural's Not In It" - Gang Of Four

7. "I Want Candy (Kevin Shields Remix)" - Bow Wow Wow

8. "Kings Of The Wild Frontier" - Adam & The Ants

9. "Concerto in G" * - Antonio Vivaldi / Reitzell

10. "The Melody Of A Fallen Tree" - Windsor For The Derby

11. "I Don't Like It Like This" - The Radio Dept.

12. "Plainsong" - The Cure

Disc 2

1. "Intro Versailles"* - Reitzell / Beggs

2. "Jynweythek Ylow" - Aphex Twin

3. "Opus 17" - Dustin O'Halloran

4. "Il Secondo Giorno (Instrumental)" - Air

5. "Keen On Boys" - The Radio Dept.

6. "Opus 23" *- Dustin O'Halloran

7. "Les Baricades Misterieuses"* - Francois Couperin / Reitzell

8. "Fools Rush In (Kevin Shields Remix") - Bow Wow Wow

9. "Avril 14th" - Aphex Twin

10. "K. 213" * - Domenico Scarlatti / Reitzell

11. "Tommib Help Buss" - Squarepusher

12. "Tristes Apprets.." - Jean Philippe Rameau /W. Christie

13. "Opus 36" *- Dustin O'Halloran

14. "All Cats Are Grey" - The Cure

Marie Antoinette is the new Sony Pictures film by Sofia Coppola.  

This two-CD set matches Coppola's modern take on the story of this 18th Century leader with a mix of '80s new wave, electronica, and classical works from artists ranging from Siouxsie and the Banshees ("Hong Kong Garden") and The Cure ("Plainsong," "All Cats Are Grey") to Antonio Vivaldi ("Concerto in G").

The music reflects Coppola's intention to tell the story in a modern way. While writing the script, she found inspiration from the New Romantic pop music movement of the 1980s -- which was itself heavily influenced by 18th century ideals of extravagance. New Romantic artists such as Bow Wow Wow ("I Want Candy) and Adam Ant ("Kings of the Wild Frontier") celebrated glamour, luxurious fashion, and hedonistic fun during that period as a kind of counterpoint to both the boredom of classic rock and the primal anger of punk music. Coppola saw the music as a modern lens through which to view Marie Antoinette - and songs such as "I Want Candy" seemed to serve as a perfect, modern expression of Marie Antoinette's impulses to find fulfillment through pleasure.  

Coppola turned to music supervisor Brian Reitzell (who worked on her previous films, Lost in Translation and The Virgin Suicides) to discuss music in the tone she was thinking of while writing. Reitzell mixed "Versailles CDs" that included such artists as Bow Wow Wow, New Order ("Ceremony"), Adam Ant, and other post-punk romantic music."

"It was all very organic," he continues. "The story dictated the music, which follows the dramatic arc. We set it all up in the opening credits with the Gang of Four song "Natural's Not in It" -- which prepares you musically and lyrically for what's going to happen. Later, there is an Aphex Twin piece, "Jynweythek Ylow," which is played when Marie Antoinette first enters Versailles, which actually sounds like that place. What I love about it is that you can't tell if it's a harpsichord or string instrument that's playing."

Also included on the soundtrack are even more modern groups such as The Strokes ("What Ever Happened"), Squarepusher ("Tommib Help Buss"), Air ("Il Secondo Giorno [Instrumental]"), The Radio Dept. ("Pulling Our Weight," "Keen on Boys"), and Windsor for the Derby ("The Melody Of A Fallen Tree").  

The eclectic blend of sounds, Reitzell maintains, "makes it a lot easier to put yourself in the movie. The music resonates because it shows how these people really were. For most of the movie, Marie Antoinette is an adolescent and it would have been a lot harder to get across her teen angst with a Masterpiece Theater type of soundtrack."   The result is this double disc Verve Forecast release, "a post-punk-pre-new-romantic-rock- opera odyssey with some 18th century music and some very new contemporary music," as Reitzell calls it.

Oscar® winner Sofia Coppola brings to the screen an imaginative interpretation of the life of France's legendary teenage queen Marie Antoinette.   When betrothed to King Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman), the naïve Marie Antoinette (Kirsten Dunst) enters the opulent French court which is steeped in conspiracy and scandal.   Without guidance, adrift in a dangerous world, the young girl rebels against the isolated atmosphere at Versailles and becomes France's most misunderstood monarch.

Marie Antoinette opens in Australia on December 26, 2006.

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