Clint Eastwood
Million Dollar Baby

THE REVIEW

There are those who love thunderous and resounding soundtracks that command attention.

I am among those who believe that in a film, music should discreetly weave through the narrative, leaving behind a languid aroma, rather than a torrent of sharp notes like pins, as often happens in modern American productions. Such a conception may purely express a personal limitation, but it is what it is. Besides, little of modern cinema pleases me.

"Million Dollar Baby" is certainly not a masterpiece, but it is undeniably a good film. A good film enhanced by a sensational soundtrack, written entirely by the legendary Clint Eastwood, who once again proves to be an excellent and refined composer. Relying on a minimal acoustic ensemble, with strings, piano, and acoustic guitar, Hollywood's tough guy composes whispering, ethereal music, pervaded by an aura of gentle sadness, with a masterful balance between fullness and emptiness, sound and silence.
The seven notes leap off the staff to recombine into a diffused, timeless image. A modest smile that leaves one breathless, that seizes with assertiveness without being so, that enchants and makes one dream with its grace. The rest is something that evidently cannot be explained, only felt.

Technically speaking, it is not difficult to identify two recurring leitmotifs, both simple, elementary, but also—by virtue of these particular features—of great emotional impact: the splendid acoustic phrasing of the opening track, disarming in its innocent beauty, and the simple piano sequence of the following fragment, with what I believe are evident Chaplinesque reminiscences—think primarily of the famous soundtrack of the film "Limelight".
This device, far from revealing a structural limitation, allows the composer to achieve the highly desirable unity in stylistic variety that distinguishes the entire soundtrack: the music indeed navigates with extreme ease between the (largely dominant) atmospheric minimalist ambiances in the vein of "Brian Eno docet", and a decidedly more rustic dimension, championed by the irresistible "Boxing Babe", with its rhythm and blues cadence, and the soft "Blue Dinner", an extremely polished and sober piece that showcases Eastwood's indomitable passion for Delta music.

An additional merit of the American director is indeed his ability, with surprising mastery, to set the various gems into a polychromatic precious stone of extraordinary class and impressionist taste. In fact, more than a soundtrack, it feels like engaging with a Monet painting: "Garden at Sainte-Adresse", my favorite, or "Coquelicots", or, for those who love pure bucolic ecstasy and immersion in a sea of boundless emotions, "Water Lilies (The Clouds)" or "The Bridge at Argenteuil".

And it makes me think: it’s incredible how beauty can bring happiness.