A while back I mentioned seeing a trailer for the Tilda Swinton film I Am Love (Io sono l'amore) and hearing the
John Adams' score, particularly the
finale to Harmonielehre, intensifying
the visuals.
Finally, I saw the
movie. It was one of the most
compelling film experiences I've had in a long time. It's a film about a lot of
things, as the best films are, and
one of those things is how people may be awakened, and may know, through the senses--and the
excitement and danger of such knowledge.
For the audience,
we comprehend the sudden shifts of
perspective Tilda's character, Emma, is realizing through the brilliant images made by director Luca
Guadagnino and his cinematographer Yorick Le Saux, and we know something of the taste and touch and meaning of what she is
experiencing, but Adams' music gives the
audience a sensual experience that is of the
film, but outside the characters of the film. Adams'
score alerts us to the sensations of
the film, and provides us with our own
sensations, our own startled realizations.
Just as I've heard members of the
audience, including myself, sometimes gasp "Wow" at the
finale to Adams' Harmonielehre, I heard that same "Wow" whispered in the movie theater
to the mix of images and narrative
and emotions and the insistent call
of brass.
