The Ides of March (Soundtrack) by Alexandre Desplat - Review

Not Too Brute
by Richard Buxton

The last few years have seen ALEXANDRE DESPLAT evolve from an up and coming feature composer to one of the most sought after in Hollywood, yet he is one that remains divisive depending on how his music is heard. DESPLAT is undoubtedly one of the most talented composers in the art of pure music-to-film correlation working today. Once his music is extracted from its original residency within the walls of a motion picture however, cracks tend to show. These cracks are not displays of inadequacy in compositional skill, rather the effects of the transformation a score undergoes when it is heard out of context. DESPLAT is certainly not known for writing bombastically memorable fanfares that the likes of JOHN WILLIAMS thrive on, and this is something that has to be taken into account when assessing his work.

DESPLAT retains his enviable ability to craft a musical score as if it and the film were one and the same with his score for the GEORGE CLOONEY film THE IDES OF MARCH. THE IDES OF MARCH dwells within the dark and deceitful world of modern-day politics, following the descent of the bright-eyed and idealistic campaign manager Stephen Meyers (RYAN GOSLING), into a world of guile, treachery and uninhibited ambition. The development that both the protagonist and his world undergo has allowed DESPLAT to craft a score that interweaves between the optimism and inevitable corruption of a young political mind.

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