Clint Mansell
The Fountain

I don't love soundtracks. I see them as "derived" music. Melodies lent to images. Music that gives itself (slut!) to the older, brighter visual brother.

As if it weren't real music.

In short, I don't love soundtracks. They were created for something else. They revolve around the same theme. Yes, okay. There are noteworthy things. When you listen to the soundtrack and relive the film. Vangelis and "Blade Runner." Vangelis and "Chariots of Fire." But I remembered the film. A good film with a nice accompaniment. No life of its own. Period.

Clint Mansell is a musician who writes soundtracks. Tough luck. He started with a little rock group, let's say. They broke up immediately (1996). Then his friend Darren Aronofsky calls him. Yes, the one from The Wrestler. Even if that's not what he should be remembered for. It's Requiem for a Dream and "Pi - The Delirium Theory" that are his masterpieces. Anyway. Personal tastes.

So Darren goes to him: "Clint, why don't you write the soundtrack for my debut?" Done. Then Darren (and Clint) get the hang of it and there they are again for Requiem For a Dream. And there Clint whips up "Lux Aeterna." Bam. But not just a little. BAM BAM. At the second attempt, he comes out with one of the most used songs as trailer bases (Sunshine, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Da Vinci Code, 300, Babylon A.D., Hitman, etc.) and one of the most epic and majestic songs of recent years, well, at the very least, he's not a slouch. I would say not at all. (I would even say) Damn. Anyway, it's still a soundtrack with a great piece. But it's still a soundtrack, mind you.

Ah, if you don't know Lux Aeterna. Shame on you.

Anyway, as usual, I digress. I was talking about my dislike for soundtracks. Clint Mansell, on the other hand, loves them. He does a bunch. But here comes his (old) friend Darren again. They reunite for yet another film of the latter. The Fountain. Clint decides to honor his filmmaker friend by going big. He calls the Mogwai. He calls the Kronos Quartet. Not just any two who passed by. Not just any two. Mogwai and Kronos Quartet. If you don't know who they are, well, um, eh.

The reviews are so-so (about the film). I don't watch it (never mind). But Clint. But the Kronos Quartet. But the Mogwai. Together. In short. It piques interest. I listen to the soundtrack. I listen to "The Last Man". Piano (Clint). Viola, Violins, Cello (Kronos Quartet). Long and poignant. Not bad, really not bad. In "Holy Dread" and the subsequent/correlated "Three of Life" you finally hear (strumming) the Mogwai too. Splendid crescendo in the finale. Great piece this one too. But will I manage to withstand the whole soundtrack?

Come on, it's a soundtrack and I haven't even seen the film. How could I like it? Then there's "Stay with Me." Intro of violins. Then the Piano comes in. (And) my breath stops. An amazing thing. Something that leaves you speechless. That pierces the soul (I might have a papier-mâché one, what can I say).

Something that makes you say that soundtracks aren't bad. But the truth is this isn't a soundtrack. Yes. Okay. There's the recurring theme (like every soundtrack). But there's also "Death Is The Road To Awe" which is a small "Lux Aeterna." "Death Is The Road To Awe" with its damn crescendos. With the individual instruments that gradually add up. Moment after moment. And those drums (Mogwai) that mark the time. Magnificently. Up to the final choir descended from heaven that crowns the closure of the track. And what about "Together We Will Live Forever" (final piece) whose title already tells you it won't be like that (that together we will live forever) and thus brings on the tissues?

In short, I haven't seen the film. But The Fountain is an album I have listened to endlessly. An album, got it?

Death Is A Disease.
Death Is The Road To Awe.
Period.