The masters of cinema and music (VI)
Our sixth dossier dedicated to the great masters of cinema and the use of music in their films focuses on authors with an indisputable personality. Michelangelo Antonioni was the great master of isolation and silence, of introspection and bourgeois anguish. Our article reflects on the process of musical disintegration that he implements in his filmography from the initial reluctant adoption of the traditional music used by Fusco, up to its replacement with the synthesis of sound itself explored in his last films. In their extensive and unorthodox filmography, the “archers” —Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger— have visited the world of opera —Hoffman’s Tales– and the ballet –the red slippers—two of the most visually beautiful films ever made. In an extensive walk through Jean Renoir’s filmography, in which the subtle game of moral counterpoints prevails, we will discover that reality and representation work like the obverse and the reverse of the same universe. Theatrical settings in which the music travels in a widespread way, forcing us to reflect on its source of diffusion. Corrosive and cynical, Billy Wilder showed unbeatable gifts for comedy, but also an unquestionable mastery in other genres, which he shook with his acidic reflexes. From his vast catalog of his, we have recovered four masterpieces in which he collaborated with some of the most important composers of the golden age of American cinema.
Miguel Angel Ordonez
case coordinator
This dossier is made up of the articles:
– On represented reality and on the theater of appearances (Music in the cinema of Jean Renoir). By Miguel Angel Ordonez
– Billy Wilder, genius without gender. By Jorge Magaz
– Michelangelo Antonioni and the depoliticisation of the soundtrack. By David Rodriguez Cerdan
– The double filmic poem (Hoffman’s Tales yes The red shoes, by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger). By José Luis Tellez
(Dossier published in Scherzo n. 390, December 2022)
