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Analysis Phantom Thread

The music in the scene from The Phantom Thread called "Never Cursed Scene" creates feelings of sadness, numbness, and weakness. It accompanies a moment where the protagonist, who is ill, has a conversation with his deceased mother's spirit. The music was written to match the emotional tone of the scene, using a string orchestra to create a slow, fragile sound that enhances the intimate conversation without interfering with the dialogue. The composer's choices of instrumentation and style were appropriate given the period setting of the costume film.

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34 views2 pages

Analysis Phantom Thread

The music in the scene from The Phantom Thread called "Never Cursed Scene" creates feelings of sadness, numbness, and weakness. It accompanies a moment where the protagonist, who is ill, has a conversation with his deceased mother's spirit. The music was written to match the emotional tone of the scene, using a string orchestra to create a slow, fragile sound that enhances the intimate conversation without interfering with the dialogue. The composer's choices of instrumentation and style were appropriate given the period setting of the costume film.

Uploaded by

nakasan3107
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Analysis The Phantom Thread

Santiago Nakakawa Bernal

1. Name of the clip and composer.

The Phantom Thread, Never Cursed Scene, music by Johnny Greenwood

2. Main feeling of the cue.

Sadness, numbness and weakness. I would also say a little bit of nostalgia and loss.

3. What is it about? What is happening in the scene?

We see a weakening and very ill person (the protagonist) watching what seems to be an
appearance of his own mother, (which meant everything to him) and therefore having a
cathartic conversation with her, telling her how much he cared for her and loved her.

4. Scoring approach. Is it thematically written? Does it seem to lock in with events


on the screen or to be more a general feeling, or impression,of the movie?

It seems mildly thematic as there are some repetitive patterns along the scene. It clearly
helps as a narrating element, however it does not accompany the scene so closely as to
imitate any action from the characters (Mickey mousing). But it conveys the emotional
feeling of the scene and the protagonist perfectly.

5.Tonality. Diatonic, chromatic, ambient sounds, pop styles, electronica, etc.

It is mainly diatonic I would say, it has dissonances in certain points but it never leaves
from a tonal center.

6.Tempo. Does the scene seem to be moving quickly or slowly?

It has a slow tempo, quite fragile as well because of the string texture.

7. Rhythm. Is there a noticeable“engine”? Are the instruments providing repeated


rhythm?

No, the music is more of a bed of strings with sudden dissonances and tension, resulting
in a constantly changing ambience.
8. Instrumentation. What do you hear?

String orchestra.

9. Dialogue Issues. How is the dialogue handled? Does the music stop when the
characters speak or become static?

The music is in the background and in very different frequencies to the dialogue of the
main character. Therefore the music lives easily along the dialogues of the scene without
interfering.

10.Use of Electronics. Anything worth noting?

No electronics.

11.Why did the composer use this type of music and choice of instruments? Why
did they make the musical choices they did?

The choice of an acoustic sounds seems a good choice as it looks to work along with the
aesthetic of the film. Judging by the scene, it is a costume film so electronic or modern
elements could have thrown the audience out of the movie… About the string orchestra
choice, it is a perfect option for intimate and really emotional scenes, as it is smaller than
the whole orchestra yet very rich in their melodic and textural capabilities. When
choosing the instrumentation of a scene I usually follow the unsaid rule of using an
ensemble that would comfortably occupy the space where the scene is developing. If it is
a small space, a smaller instrumentation works better, otherwise it would overload the
scene potentially, and the same thing happens to the contrary, if we use a small
ensemble in a huge shot with wide spaces, it will feel empty. So I think it was this logic
and the costume film genre that inclined the composer to choose this instrumentation.

12.Does the music work with the film? Are there any dramatic issues that seem to
not work with the music?
Are there any other issues? What would you do differently?

I think the music works very well. It allows for the audience to quickly empathize with the
protagonist and gives dramatic weight to the whole scene without being too invasive. I
think it is very efficient more than anything, as it clearly shows that you don’t need
anything more but a string orchestra sometimes to musicalize a whole film. I understand
there is also a piano in the movie (haven’t seen it but researched other scenes to get in
context) that was purposefully left out in this scene. As a pianist myself, I would have
perhaps included it in the scene as it seems a critical point in the story and might have
needed a “tutti” of the instrumentation to give it more weight, unless of course the
instrument was reserved as an element to represent a specific character or moment
elsewhere in the movie.

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