Papillon and its music

Having recently rewatched Papillon a few things stood out music-wise. First, Jerry Goldsmith's score is marvellous. The main theme is one of Jerry Goldsmith's most beautiful themes and he adapts it thoroughly throughout the score in that typical Jerry Goldsmith way. The scenes with the natives and their uninterrupted music are just gorgeous; only images supported by some of Goldsmith's best music, without any dialogue. The action music before these scenes is typical of Goldsmith too. He creates very energetic and thrilling action cues from his thematic material, thus furthering the emotional journey present in the music, in stead of action cues that are only busy pieces of music.

The use of music in the picture is typically 1970's. It is used very sparsely, with most of the cues featured in the second half of the film. This approach heightens the impact of the later and the finale scenes, but I've got to say though that it makes the beginning half of the film somewhat empty. There's very little music and because the film is quite drawn out, some early scenes begin to drag a bit. A bit more musical support might have helped these scenes. The film is by no means too long or boring, but in places it begins to drag, lessening the emotional impact of those scenes somewhat. All in all Papillon is an emotional and good film, with great acting and featuring a superb score.


You said, "I love you," I said, "Wait"
I was going to say, "Take me," you said, "Go away"