Get Excited for “The French Dispatch” Through These Wes Anderson Soundtracks
Wes Anderson’s upcoming film, “The French Dispatch,” was set to release this fall but has been pushed to 2021 due to COVID-19. As the wait continues, what better way is there to recognize this UT alumni’s filmography than through his meticulously curated soundtracks?
Written by Katie Karp
Photo courtesy of Touchstone Pictures
Appreciated both within and beyond his University of Texas and Houston communities, Wes Anderson is known for his idiosyncratic directorial style. Like his symmetrical shots, colorful palettes, and regular casting of elite actors (including fellow UT alumni Luke and Owen Wilson), Wes Anderson’s soundtracks reflect his obsession with detail and need for perfection. Each of his films’ tracklists demonstrates how he uses music to establish moods and tell stories. Here are five soundtracks that encapsulate how Wes Anderson’s soundtracks develop the plots and characters of his films.
“Rushmore” (1998)
There is no better soundtrack for the story of ambitious teenage geek Max Fischer's (Jason Schwartzman) quest to make a beautiful teacher fall in love with him at his all-boys prep school than classic rock and an original score by Devo frontman Mark Mothersbaugh. Anderson toys with Mothersbaugh's chirpy instrumentals to amplify the pretentious but childish nature of the private, expensive Rushmore Academy. Anderson chooses the Kinks’ "Nothin' in the World" to represent rich industrialist and Rushmore affiliate Herman Blume's response after finding out his wife plans to leave him. Singing angry songs with bow ties and blazers, the Kinks are the perfect but unexpected choice to demonstrate Blume's feelings of composed but genuine anger. When Fischer reaches his lowest point after his failed attempts with love and school, The Rolling Stones’ "I Am Waiting" emphasizes his restlessness, and Faces’ "Ooh La La" highlights his sense of triumph and growth at the end of the film.
“The Royal Tenenbaums” (2001)
In his first Academy Award-nominated film, which tells the story of a wealthy, disconnected family in New York City, Anderson threads an unlikely combination of hits together to form a nostalgic and story-like tracklist. He uses the Ramones’ “Judy Is a Punk” to demonstrate the rebellious nature of Margot Tenenbaum’s (Gwyneth Paltrow) love life and Paul Simon’s “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” to underscore the joy Royal (Gene Hackman) feels when forming a relationship with his estranged grandchildren. One noteworthy use of music in The Royal Tenenbaums glamorizes what would otherwise be the uncomfortable scene when siblings Richie (Luke Wilson) and Margot — who, as the movie stresses, is adopted — admit their love for one another. The Rolling Stones’ soft and romantic “She Smiled Sweetly” plays on the record behind them, almost beautifying the situation's peculiarities. Anderson’s use of music in the film amplifies its cool but quirky feel.
“The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou” (2004)
The soundtrack to Anderson’s fourth film emphasizes its eccentricity and whimsy, telling the story of an oceanographer (Bill Murray) who seeks revenge on the jaguar shark that ate his friend, Estaban. “The Life Aquatic”'s jumbled soundtrack complements the film’s contradictory feelings of playful seriousness and rings true to its presentation as the staged documentary of an oceanographer. The tracklist ranges from Mark Mothersbaugh's instrumental lullaby sounds to Iggy Pop's edgy, punk-rock song "Search and Destroy." Anderson finds an unlikely middle ground that bridges the tasteful, contradictory songs in the soundtrack together: Seu Jorge's Portuguese-language covers of some of David Bowie's greatest hits. Jorge reappears throughout the movie with an acoustic guitar to deliver a cover, including when he sings "Space Oddity'' after Zissou's boat is hijacked by pirates. Even Bowie himself showed appreciation for the strange, beautiful covers in a quote from The Life Aquatic Studio Versions Featuring Seu Jorge’s liner notes: "Had Seu Jorge not recorded my songs in Portuguese, I would never have heard this new level of beauty which he has imbued them with.”
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” (2009)
In his stop-motion animation based on Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book, Anderson blends Alexandre Desplat’s quirky original scores with rock classics. Desplat’s songs underscore the playfulness of animation and innocence of a storybook with the happy-hearted sounds of banjos and flutes. Once again Anderson turns to The Rolling Stones for further narrative and feelings of drama in the film. When humans discover the foxes and try to dig them out of their tree homes, “Street Fighting Man” adds a breath of coolness to the family’s escape run. Between Desplat’s cheerful instrumentals and classic rock songs, the music in “Fantastic Mr. Fox” matches both the adventurous but emotional parts of the film and the layer of realism that claymation adds to a childhood fairytale.
“Moonrise Kingdom” (2012)
Alexandre Desplat composed another original score for Anderson in “Moonrise Kingdom,” which tells the love story between two tweens. The instrumentals evoke a sense of both youthful softness and a more sophisticated solemnity, serving as the perfect reflection of Sam (Jared Gilman) and Suzy (Kara Hayward), who, despite his boy scout uniform or the childlike ribbons in her hair, are extraordinarily mature for their age. Unlike his other soundtracks, Anderson shies away from American classics and opts for French tunes. The wildly romantic songs in what appears to be a young, childish couple furthers the sense of irony and realness of their relationship. Watching two half-clothed twelve-year-olds alternate between slow dancing and flailing their arms childishly to Francoise Hardy's “Le Temps De L'amour” is perhaps the perfect encapsulation of just how strange and genius Wes Anderson is with his soundtracks and cinematography.
Nowhere is the perfection that we see through Wes Anderson’s cinematography, script and style choice clearer than in his film soundtracks, with each song carefully curated to emphasize different characters and plots. A silver lining of “The French Dispatch”’s postponed release for Wes Anderson fans is that the longer the waiting time, the more time fans have to appreciate his pre-existing films and their incredible soundtracks.