Sound technique · used in 10 films
Using a song or music contest to show who a character is or what they stand for. The music works as argument, duel or revelation.
Examples
John Huston · 1948
Rocco forces Gaye to sing a cappella before he lets her have a drink. The song, Moanin' Low, is about a woman trapped with a cruel man, and she realizes she is describing her own life. Huston surprised Claire Trevor by shooting it without rehearsal.
Where to see it: Gaye's song. Rocco makes her sing for a drink and then humiliates her.
Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly · 1949
The songs tell you who each person is. Gabey sings about his hometown while pretending to show Ivy a date there, and Chip and Hildy trade teasing lines in a number built on insults.
Where to see it: Main Street: Gabey and Ivy act out an imaginary date in his small hometown inside a dance studio, and the song shows how much he wants a simple life.
Stanley Kubrick · 1957
A German girl is forced to sing for French soldiers who plan to mock her. She sings a simple folk song. The soldiers, many of whom will die, go quiet and then start humming along. The moment argues that the war is destroying their humanity but cannot put it out completely.
Where to see it: The German girl's song. It is the film's final sequence, and it answers everything that came before with a moment of decency.
Carol Reed · 1968
Nancy sings As Long as He Needs Me to show she loves Sikes even though he is violent. The song tells you why she stays with him. It also makes her later death at his hands harder to watch.
Where to see it: Nancy's song. She sings of her loyalty to Sikes, and later he kills her at London Bridge.
Ingmar Bergman · 1978
Eva plays the Chopin prelude simply and with feeling. Charlotte plays it again with more polish and control. The same notes show two people who have never understood each other.
Where to see it: The 2 versions: after Eva plays the prelude, Charlotte reinterprets it with a more refined version.
George Miller · 2006
Penguins here find mates by singing a personal heartsong. Mumble cannot sing, so his taps become his voice. His difference becomes his identity.
Where to see it: Gloria's mating season: Mumble's dancing wins over Gloria and the young penguins join in.
Robert Zemeckis · 2016
Delamare tells Max that Marianne was a talented pianist who once played La Marseillaise in a cafe in defiance of the Germans. Back in London, Max brings her to a pub and tells her to play the piano. The piano becomes the test of who she is.
Where to see it: The pub piano: Max demands that Marianne play the piano after hearing Delamare's story. She admits that she is a spy.
Jennifer Kent · 2018
Clare is called Nightingale because she sings for the soldiers, and the song makes her a servant they enjoy. At the end she sings an Irish song as the sun rises. The same voice that once entertained them now stands for her grief and her survival.
Where to see it: The final beach scene. After Mangana dances and declares himself free, Clare sings a sean-nós song in Irish as the sun rises.
Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson · 2022
In front of a crowd, Pinocchio mocks Mussolini in song. The tune makes the insult public, and the powerful respond with fury. A puppet who does not understand fear is the only one brave enough.
Where to see it: The circus: Pinocchio performs a song mocking Mussolini, and Mussolini orders him executed and the circus burned.
Nia DaCosta · 2023
On Aladna, people communicate through song. The heroes get pulled into this and have to sing their way through a conversation. It sounds odd at first, and then it becomes a warm, funny way to show how different this world is.
Where to see it: Arrival on Aladna: The Marvels meet Prince Yan on a planet where people talk by singing.
Questions