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Rating: For the splendid 1967 film by Stanley Donen with Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney, Henry Mancini composed the entire soundtrack and gifted cinema a small gem.
The main theme is indeed a wonderful composition; a piece with melancholic, reflective tones, capable of immediately conveying a sense of emotional precariousness but ultimately of great assurance. The film tells the story of a couple in crisis (I have already written the review on the website), and Mancini manages to convey in a few minutes many of the feelings that the viewer will experience watching the story of Mark and Joanna.
The theme opens with a small overture for strings. The tones are sad and elusive. Shortly after, the string section introduces the main theme played by the piano and accompanied by the acoustic guitar to set the rhythm. A jazzy, subtle, and light melody that, supported by a part for horn in the background, is simply poignant. The return to the main theme, again played by the strings, opens to the transverse flute which sweetly and melancholically invites the piano to close.
The theme accompanies the opening credits and pairs with them perfectly; it is one of Mancini's most famous and performed pieces and certainly one of the most beautiful in the history of cinema.
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