INDEX
Electronic Soundtrack Igniting Passion and Desire
Another important aspect of the film is, needless to say, the music. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, a well-trained team that has worked on a number of outstanding films, starting with David Fincher’s “The Social Network” (2010), worked on an intensely danceable electronic music with a strong techno/house flavor.
Here is what Guadagnino had to say.
The first thing that came to mind about the music for this film was that I wanted music that would make people watching the movie want to dance. So, I told Reznor and Ross, ‘How about music like rave concerts or house music?’ The momentum of the actual film comes from the music.
From press materials
As Guadagnino had envisioned, the tracks created by Reznor and Ross are remarkably effective. The beats of each track “direct” the film directly by dynamically blending with the rhythms of the camera, the actors’ body movements, and the montages, with a degree of adherence that exceeds that of ordinary dramatic music. Furthermore, by effectively placing the music in conjunction with clever cutbacks and slow motion, it even succeeds in creating something similar to that feeling we often experience on the floor, where our sense of time seems to melt away when we are exposed to dance music at high volume.
In addition, as most people who actually experience the film on screen would agree, the sound design of the film, not just the score, is quite unique. The score is clearly louder than most films, and the specific sounds being played are overtly mixed in an aggressive manner to match. In particular, the sound of the racket hitting the ball is so sharp and loud that it can be startling if one is not careful. The sound of the tennis match itself is like the physicality of the dance music, as it roars like the kick of hard electronic music.
According to Reznor, when Guadagnino first approached him about the film, he described it as “A very sexxxxxxy movie” and suggested a few specific motifs.
As one can easily see from the history of dance music, it has been strongly connected with physical pleasures such as sexuality and, moreover, with queer culture. It is also well known that dance depictions have long been read as a metaphor for sexuality in film history.
In this film, too, there are many bold depictions, not only of the sexual love between Tashi and two men, but also of the physical interplay between the men, and it is clear that the carnal expression that Guadagnino has refined in his past films has reached a higher level. The score by Reznor and Roth contributes directly to this heightened level. The “erotic” score (and some of the existing pieces) also convincingly conveys the inseparability of the three characters in terms of passion and lust, as they move back and forth between the sexual and the tennis-playing aspects of their relationship.
